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THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 



THE 

WELL- CONSIDERED 

GARDEN 



BY 

A — —^ • 



^^RS. FRANCIS KING 



ILLUSTRATED 



WITH PREFACE BY 

GERTRUDE JEKYLL 



CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
NEW YORK :: :: :: MCMXV 






COPTBIGHT, 1915, BY 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 



Published May, 1915 




••5 1915 

'©CIA39S092 



TO 

THE DEAR MEMORY 

OP 

A RARE GARDENER 

A. R. K. 



NOTE 

To the publishers and editors of The Garden 
Magazine my thanks are due for kind permission 
to reprint here those portions of this book which 
originally appeared in the columns of that peri- 
odical. To the Massachusetts Horticultural Soci- 
ety and to The Garden Club of America I am 
indebted for the use of passages written for those 
organizations. And to the several amateur gar- 
deners, known and unknown to me, whose writing 
or whose photographs grace these pages, I offer 
here most hearty appreciation of their friendly 

aid. 

Louisa Yeomans King. 

Orchaed House, 
Alma, Michigan. 



PREFACE 

The wide-spread interest in gardening that is 
steadily growing throughout the land will have 
prepared a large public for the reception of such 
stimulating encouragement as will be found in 
the following pages. One thinks of a great and 
fertile field ready ploughed and sown, and only 
waiting for genial warmth and moisture to make 
it burst forth into life and eventual abundance. 
The book will come as these vivifying influences. 
The author's practical knowledge, keen insight, 
and splendid enthusiasm, her years of labor on 
her own land and her constant example and en- 
couragement of others — combine to make her one 
of those most fitted to direct energy, to suggest 
and instruct — to communicate her own thought 
and practise to willing learners. 

Many are those who love their gardens, many 
who know their plants, many who understand their 
best ways of culture. All these qualities or accom- 
plishments are necessary, but besides and above 
them all is the will or determination to do the best 
possible — "to garden finely" — as Bacon puts it. 

ix 



PREFACE 

Such a desire is often felt, but from lack of ex- 
perience it cannot be brought into effect. What 
is needed for the doing of the best gardening is 
something of an artist's training, or at any rate 
the possession of such a degree of aptitude — the 
God-given artist's gift — as with due training may 
make an artist; for gardening, in its best expres- 
sion, may well rank as one of the fine arts. But 
without the many years of labor needed for 
any hope of success in architecture, sculpture, or 
painting, there are certain simple rules, whose 
observance, carried out in horticulture, will make 
all the difference between a garden that is utterly 
commonplace and one that is full of beauty and 
absorbing interest. 

Of these one of the chief is a careful considera- 
tion of color arrangement. Early in her garden- 
ing career this fact impressed itself upon the 
author's mind. A study of the book reveals the 
method and gives a large quantity of applied 
example. A few such lessons put in practise will 
assuredly lead on to independent effort; for the 
learner, diligently reading and carefully following 
the good guidance, will soon find the way open to 
a whole new field of beauty and delight. 

Gertrude Jekyll. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTEB 



FAQi: 



I. Color Harmony 1 

II. Companion Crops 25 

III. Succession Crops 39 

IV. Joys and Sorrows of a Trial Garden . . 51 
V. Balance in the Flower Garden ... 63 

VI. Color Harmonies in the Spring Garden . 75 

VII. The Crocus and Other Early Bulbs . . 89 

VIII. Color Arrangements for Darwin Tulips 

and Other Spring-Flowering Bulbs . 101 

IX. Notes on Spring Flowers 115 

X. A Small Spring Flower Border . . . . 129 

XI. Notes on Some of the Newer Gladioli . 143 

XII. Midsummer Pomps 157 

XIII. Garden Accessories . 179 

XIV. Gardening Expedients ....... 191 

XV. The Question of the Gardener .... 205 

XVI. Necessities and Luxuries in Garden Books 219 

XVII. Various Gardens 239 

Appendix 269 

Index 283 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Sea Lavender and Delphinium in a Nantucket Garden Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

Tulip Kaufmanniana with Scilla Sibirica 16 

Tulips Reverend H. Ewbank and Clara Butt, below Blooming 

Lilac 16 

Sea-holly and Phlox Pantheon 22 

Phlox Aurore Boreale, Sea-holly, and Chrysanthemum Maxi- 



mum 



22 



Muscari Heavenly Blue, Tulipa Retroflexa, and Myosotis 

along Brick Walk ........... 28 

Arabis and Tulip Cottage Maid 28 

Double Gypsophila and Shasta Daisy 28 

Gypsophila and Lilies in the Garden 32 

The Time of Lilies and Delphiniums 36 

Borders of Pale Blue, Blue-Purple, and Pale Yellow ... 42 

Tulip Cottage Maid with Arabis Alpina 42 

Munstead Primrose and Tulip White Swan on Slope below 

Poplar and Pine 46 

Peonies and Canterbury Bells 48 

Discreet Use of Rambler Rose, Lady Gay 48 

xiii 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACraO PAGB 

Heuchera Sanguinea Hybrids 56 

Rambler Rose Lady Gay over Gate 56 

Hybrid Columbines below Briar Rose Lady Penzance . . 60 

Narcissus Barri Flora Wilson 60 

The Time of Gypsopbila 68 

Hardy Asters in September 72 

Puschkinia below Shrubs 80 

Tulip Kaufmanniana in Border 80 

Crocus Mont Blanc . 86 

Darwin Tulips at the Haarlem (Holland) Jubilee Show, 1910 86 

Hyacinthus Lineatus, Var. Azureus 98 

Tulip Kaufmanniana 98 

Tulip Vitellina, Phlox Divaricata 104 

Tulip Gesneriana Elegans Lutea Pallida above Phlox Divari- 
cata Laphami 104 

Pink Canterbury Bells, Stachys Lanata 110 

Bellis Perennis and Narcissus Poeticus 110 

Darwin Tulips with Iris Germanica . . . . . . .122 

A Spring Flower Border in Pale Blue, Yellow, and Mauve . 132 

Gladiolus America below Buddleia . 150 

Delphinium La France, Campanula Persicifolia, Digitalis Am- 

bigua, and Pyrethrum 160 

xiv 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACraO PAQB 

Delj)hmiums the Alake and Statuaire Rude 164 

Buddleia Variabilis Magnifica, White Zinnia below . . " . 172 

The Trowel, the Label, and Various Baskets 186 

Baptisia Australis 226 

Garden at London Flower Show of 1912 242 

Detail of another Garden at London Flower Show, 1912 . 242 

Terrace Planting, Garden on Nantucket 244 

Phlox Time, Garden at Gates Mills, Ohio 244 

At Swampscott, Massachusetts 254 

Fernbrook, Lenox, Massachusetts 254 

Fancy Field, Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania 258 

Rustic Arbor and Pergola in Tacoma Garden — First Year . 262 

Thornewood, American Lake, Tacoma 264 

Glendessary, Santa Barbara, California 264 

Planting Plans for Color End of Volume 

Color Arrangement of Late Tulips 

Suggestion for Spring Planting before Shrubbery 

Parterre of Spring Flowers (City) 

Section of Simple Planting against Brick Wall 



XV 



COLOR HARMONY 



"The simple magic of color for its own sake can never 
be displaced, yet a garden in the highest sense means more 
than this."— E. V. B. 



COLOR HARMONY 

^ I ^HE very broadest consideration of color in 
-^ gardening would turn our minds to the gen- 
eral color effect of a garden in relation to its large 
setting of country. Was it not Ruskin who, in 
spite of his rages at the average mid- Victorian 
garden, said that gardens as well as houses should 
be of a general color to harmonize with the sur- 
rounding country — certain tones for the simple 
blue country of England, others for the colder 
gray country of Italy ? Never was sounder color 
advice given than that contained in the following 
lines from one of the Oxford Lectures: "Bluish 
purple is the only flower color which nature ever 
used in masses of distant effect; this, however, 
she does in the case of most heathers — with the 
rhododendron (ferrugineum), and less extensively 
with the colder color of the wood hyacinth; ac- 
cordingly, the large rhododendron may be used 
to almost any extent in masses; the pale varieties 
of the rose more sparingly, and on the turf the 

3 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

wild violet and the pansy should be sown by 
chance, so that they may grow in undulations of 
color, and should be relieved b}^ a few prim- 
roses." 

There never was so rich a time as the present 
for the great quantity of material available for use 
in the study of garden color. The range of tones 
in flowers to-day is almost measureless. Never be- 
fore were seen pinks of such richness, such deep 
velvetlike violets, delicate buffs and salmons, 
actual blues, vi\^d orange tones, pale beautiful 
lavenders. Through the magic of the hybridizers 
we are to-daj^ without excuse for ugliness in the 
garden. The horticultural palette is furnished 
forth indeed. Take perennial phloxes alone: for 
rich ^dolet-purple w^e have Lord Rayleigh; for 
the redder purple. Von Hochberg; for the laven- 
ders which should be used with these, Eugene 
Danzanvilliers and Antonin Mercie; for whites, 
the wondrous Von Lassberg and the low but ef- 
fective Tapis Blanc; while in the list of \dvid or 
dehcate pinks not one of these is unworthy of a 
place in the finest gardens: T. A. Strohlein, 
Gruppen, Konigin, General von Heutz, Selma, 
Bridesmaid, General Chanzj^ Jules Cambon, and 
Elizabeth Campbell (already an established favor- 

4 



COLOR HARMONY 

ite in England and now offered in America) ; Ellen 
Willmott, too, a pale-gray phlox, should be im- 
mensely useful. 

I have to confess to a faint prejudice against 
stripes, flakes, or eyes in phloxes, principally be- 
cause, as a rule, the best effects in color group- 
ings are obtained by the use of flowers of clear, 
solid tones — otherwise one cannot count upon the 
result of one's planning. With the eye, an unex- 
pected element enters into our composition. 

Among irises what a possible range of color 
pictures in lavenders, blues, bronzes, yellows, 
springs up to the mind's eye with the very men- 
tion of the flower's musical name! The immense 
choice of species and varieties, the difference in 
form and height, and more notably the unending 
number of their lovely hues, make the iris family 
a true treasure-house for the good flower gardener. 
The first-comer of our spring iris festival is the 
shy, stiff Iris reticulata of four inches; the last of 
the lovely guests is the great white English iris 
of four feet; and those showing themselves be- 
tween the opening and closing days of iris time 
are of many nations — German, Japanese, Siberian, 
English, Dutch. 

Tulips, so highly developed in our day, present 

5 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

a wonderful field of color from which to choose; 
so does the dahlia tribe. It is easy to see that the 
glaring faults in color planting in our gardens are 
not due to lack of good material. 

The question of absolute color is a very nice 
question indeed, and reminds one of the old prov- 
erb of one man's meat being another man's poison. 
We cannot say that a given color is ugly. Its 
beauty or lack of beauty depends upon its rela- 
tion to other colors. To announce that one dis- 
likes mauve is not to prove mauve unbeautiful. 
Most of us who have prejudices against a certain 
color would be amazed at the effect upon our color 
sense of the offensive hue when judiciously used 
with correlated tones. For instance, what com- 
moner than to hear this exclamation as one wan- 
ders in an August garden where a clump of tall 
phloxes have reverted to the magenta, despised 
of most of us, and where the hostess's shears have 
been spared, to the spoiling of the garden: *'What 
a horrible color has that phlox taken on!" But 
take that same group of flowering stems another 
year, back it by the pale spires of Physostegia 
Virginica rosea, see that the phlox Lord Rayleigh 
blooms beside it, that a good lavender like Antonin 
Mercie is hard by, let some masses of rich purple 

6 



COLOR HARMONY 

petunia have their will below, with perhaps the 
flat panicles of large-flowered white verbena, a few 
spikes of the gladiolus Baron Hulot, and some 
trusses of a pinkish-lavender heliotrope judiciously 
disposed, and lo ! the ugliness of the magenta phlox 
has been transmuted into a positive beauty and 
become an active agent toward the loveliness of 
the whole picture. 

What a lucky thing for us delvers into plant 
and seed lists if the color tests of railways — on a 
more elaborate and delicate scale, to be sure — 
could be applied to the eyes of the writers of color 
descriptions for these publications! The only 
available guide to the absolute color of flowers of 
which I happen to know is the "Repertoire des 
Couleurs," pubhshed by the Chrysanthemum 
Society of France. Of this there is soon to be 
published a pocket edition; and the American 
Gladiolus Society has a somewhat similar proj- 
ect under consideration. Here we have in the 
French publication a criterion, a standard; and 
if this were oftener consulted the gardening world 
of this country would be working on a much 
higher plane than is the case to-day. 

So much for the range of color in our flower 
gardens, for the relative and absolute values of 

7 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

flower colors; but what of the abuse of these 
things? May I give an instance? Not long 
since there came to my eye that which it is always 
my delight to see, the landscape architect's plan 
of a fine Italian garden. For the spring adorn- 
ment of this garden such hyacinths and tulips 
were specified as at once to cause, in my mind at 
least, grave doubts concerning color harmonies, 
periods of bloom. Were certain ones early, would 
certain ones be late? — as, to secure a brilliantly gay 
effect, two or three varieties should surely flower 
together. For my own pleasure, I worked out 
a substitute set of bulbs and sent it to an au- 
thority on color in spring-growing things in this 
country, who thus wrote of the original plan: 
"In regard to the color combinations upon which 
you asked my comment, I can only say that they 
are a fair sample of how little most folks know 
about bulbs. In the bed of hyacinths. King of 
the Blues will prove quite too dark for the other 
colors; Perle Brillante or Electra would have been 
much better. In the two tulip combinations I 
can see no harmony at all. Keizerkroon, in my 
opinion, should never be planted with any other 
tulips. Its gaudiness is too harsh unless it is seen 
by itself. Furthermore, both Rose Luisante and 

8 



COLOR HARMONY 

White Swan will bloom just enough later not to be 
right when the others are in their prime." 

Now, what is the good of our finest gardens if 
they are to be thus misused and the owners' taste 
misdirected in this fashion? We spend our money 
for that which is not bread. 

I have a new profession to propose, a profession 
of specialists: it should be called that of the gar- 
den colorist. The office shall be distinct from 
that of the landscape architect, distinct indeed 
from those whose office it already is to prescribe 
the plants for the garden. The garden colorist 
shall be qualified to plant beautifully, according 
to color, the best-planned gardens of our best 
designers. It shall be his duty, first, to possess a 
true color instinct; second, to have had much 
experience in the growing of flowers, notably in 
the growing of varieties in form and color; third, 
so to make his planting plans that there shall be 
successive pictures of loveliness melting into each 
other with successive months; and last, he must 
pay, if possible, a weekly visit to his gardens, for 
no eye but his discerning one will see in them 
the evil and the good. This profession will doubt- 
less have its first recruits from the ranks of women; 
at least, according to Mr. W. C. Egan, the color 

9 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

sense is far oftener the attribute of women than 
of men. Still, there is the art of painting to refute 
this argument. 

Color as an aid to garden design is a matter 
ever present to my mind where a plan of high 
beauty has been adopted and already carried 
out. One occasionally sees a fine garden which, 
due to the execrable color arrangement, must of 
necessit}'^ be more interesting in winter than in 
summer. Sir William Eden's plea for the flower- 
less garden comes to mind: 

"I have come to the conclusion that it is flowers 
that ruin a garden, at any rate many gardens: 
flowers in a cottage garden, yes, hollyhocks 
against a gray wall; orange lilies against a white 
one; white lilies against a mass of green; aubrieta 
and arabis and thrift to edge your walks. Del- 
phiniums against a yew hedge, and lavender any- 
where. But the delight in color, as people say, 
in large gardens is the offensive thing: flowers 
combined with shrubs and trees, the gardens of 
the Riviera, for instance, Cannes, and the much- 
praised, vulgar Monte Carlo — beds of begonias, 
cinerarias at the foot of a palm, the terrible crim- 
son rambler trailing around its trunk. I have 
never seen a garden of taste in France. Go to 

10 



COLOR HARMONY 

Italy, go to Tivoli, and then you will see wliat I 
mean by the beauty of a garden without flowers: 
yews, cypresses, statues, steps, fountains — sombre, 
dignified, restful." 

But when planting is right, when great groups 
of, say, white hydrangea, when tall rows of holly- 
hocks of harmonious color, when delicate gar- 
lands of such a marvellous rambler as Tausend- 
schon, low flat plantings of some fine verbena like 
Beauty of Oxford or the purple Dolores — when 
such fine materials are used to produce an effect 
of balanced beauty, to heighten the lovehness of 
proportion and of line already lying before one 
in stone or brick, in turf or gravel, in well-devised 
treUis or beautifully groomed hedge, what an emi- 
nence of beauty may then be reached! 

The form and color of flowers, in my opinion, 
should be considered as seriously for the formal 
garden as the soil about their roots. 

Effects with tall flowers, lihes, delphiniums; with 
dwarf flowers, hardy candytuft, for instance; with 
laceHke flowers, the heucheras, the gypsophilas; 
with round-trussed flowers, phloxes; with massive- 
leaved flowers, the funkias or Crambe cordifolia ; 
with slender flowers, gladiolus, salpiglossis; with 
low spreading flowers, statice, annual phloxes; 

11 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

with delicately branching flowers, the annual lark- 
spurs — what an endless array in the matter of 
form and habit ! The trouble with most of us is 
that we try to get in all the flowers, and also we 
often go so far as to insist on using all the colors 
too — with a result usually terrific. 

On the other hand, according to a capital Eng- 
lish writer, "the present taste is a little too timid 
about mixtures and contrasts of color. Few of 
those who advise upon the color arrangements of 
flowers seem to be aware that nearly all colors go 
well together in a garden, if only they are thor- 
oughly mixed up. It is the half-hearted con- 
trasts where only two or three colors are em- 
ployed, and those the wrong ones, that are really 
ugly. The Orientals know more about color than 
we do, and in their coloring they imitate the au- 
dacity and profusion of nature." 

Those who lead us in these matters will, I am 
sure, gradually and gently conduct us to an aus- 
terer taste, a wish for more simplicity of effect in 
our gardens — the sure path, if the narrow one, to 
beauty in gardening. 

The stream of my horticultural thought runs 
here a trifle narrower, and I see the charm of 
gardens of one color alone — these, of course, with 

12 



COLOR HARMONY 

the varying tones of such a color, and with the 
hberal or sparing use of white flowers. It is, I 
think, a daughter of Du Maurier whose English 
garden is one lovely riot, the summer through, of 
mauve, purple, cool pink, and white. I can fancy 
nothing more lovely if it receive the artist's touch. 
A garden of rich purples, brilliant blues and their 
paler shades, with cream and white, could be a 
masterpiece in the right hand. 

Such was, a summer or two since, the garden at 
Ashridge, Lord Brownlow's fine place in England, 
the following brief description of which was sent 
me by the hand that planted it: "Purple and 
blue beds at Ashridge (very difficult to get enough 
blue when tall blue delphiniums are over). Blue 
delphinium, blue salvia (August and September), 
purple clematis, single petunia, violas, purple 
sweet peas, salpiglossis, stocks, blue nemesia, blue 
branching annual delphinium, purple perennial 
phloxes, purple gladiolus." 

The past mistress of the charming art of color 
combination in gardening is, without doubt. Miss 
Jekyll, the well-known English writer; and to 
the practised amateur, I commend her "Colour 
in the Flower Garden" as the last word in truly 
artistic planting, and full of valuable suggestion 

13 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

for one who has worked with flowers long enough 
to have mastered the compHcations of his soil 
and chmate. 

Miss Jekyll's remarks on the varying concep- 
tions of color I must here repeat, in order to make 
the descriptions below as well understood as pos- 
sible. "I notice/' she writes, on page 227 of 
"Wood and Garden," "in plant hsts, the most 
reckless and indiscriminate use of the words piu-ple, 
violet, mauve, lilac, and lavender; and, as they 
are all related, I think they should be used with 
greater caution. I should say that mauve and 
lilac cover the same ground. The word mauve 
came into use within my recollection. It is French 
for mallow, and the flower of the wild plant may 
stand as the tj'pe of what the word means. Lav- 
ender stands for a colder or bluer range of pale 
purples, with an inclination to gray; it is a useful 
word, because the whole color of the flower spike 
varies so little. Violet stands for the dark gar- 
den violet, and I always think of the grand color 
of Iris reticulata as an example of a rich violet- 
purple. But purple equally stands for this, and 
for many shades r?dder." 

In an earher paragraph the same writer refers 
to the common color nomenclatiu*e of the average 

1^ 



COLOR HARMONY 

seed or bulb list as "slip-slop," and indeed the 
name is none too hard for the descriptive mis- 
takes in most of our own catalogues. Mrs. Sedg- 
wick in "The Garden Month by Month" provides 
a valuable color chart; so far as I know, she is 
the pioneer in this direction in this country. Why 
should not books for beginners in gardening af- 
ford suggestions for color harmony in planting, a 
juxtaposition of plants slightly out of the ordi- 
nary routine, orange near blue, sulphur-yellow near 
blue, and so on ? A well-known book for the ama- 
teur is Miss Shelton's "The Seasons in a Flower 
Garden." This little volume shows charming 
taste in advice concerning flower groupings for 
color. I look forward to the day when a serious 
color standard for flowers shall be established by 
the appearance in America of such a publication 
as the "Repertoire des Couleurs" sent out by the 
Societe Frangaise des Chrysanthemistes. To this 
the makers of catalogues might turn as infallible; 
and on this those who plant for artistic combina- 
tion of color might rely. 

In the groupings for color effect given below 
there has been no absolute copying of any one's 
suggestions. To work out these plantings my 
plan has always been, first to make notes on the 

15 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

same day of each week of flowers in full bloom. 
Then, by cutting certain blooms and holding them 
against others, a happy contrast or harmony of 
color is readily seen, and noted for trial in the 
following year. 

BLUE AND CREAM- WHITE — MARCH 

The earliest blooming color combination of 
which I can speak from experience is illustrated on 
the facing page. Here, backed by Mahonia, and 
blooming in one season as early as late March, 
thrives a most lovely group of blue and cream- 
white spring flowers. Tulipa Kaufmanmmia, open- 
ing full always in the sun, spreads its deep creamy 
petals, while below these tulips a few hundred 
Scilla Sihirica show brilliantly blue. To the right 
bloodroot is white with blossoms at the same mo- 
ment, while behind this the creamy pointed buds 
of Narcissus Orange Phoenix carry along the tone 
of the cream-white tulip. Narcissus Orange Phoe- 
nix is a great favorite of mine; leader of all the 
double daffodils, I think it, with the exception of 
Narcissus poeticus, var. plenus, the gardenia nar- 
cissus, with its true gardenia scent and full ivory- 
white blooms; with me, however, this narcissus 
so seldom produces a flower that I have given 

16 




TULIP KAUFMANNIANA WITH SCILLA SIBIBICA 




TULIPS REVEREND H. EWBANK AND CLARA BUTT, BELOW 
BLOOMING LILAC 



COLOR HARMONY 

up growing it. Where this does well, the most 
delicious color combinations should be possible. 

As for Tulipa Kaufmanniana, earliest of all 
tulips to bloom, it is such a treasure to the lover 
of spring flowers that the sharp advance in its 
price made within the last two or three years by 
the Dutch growers is bad news indeed for the 
gardener. A tulip of surprising beauty, this, with 
distinction of form, creamy petals, with a soft 
daffodil-yellow tone toward the centre, the out- 
side of the petals nearly covered with a very nice 
tone of rich reddish-pink. Its appearance when 
closed is unusually good, and its color really ex- 
cellent with the blue of the Scillas. 

BLUE AND PURPLE — APRIL 

A very daring experiment this was, but one 
which proved so interesting in rich color that it 
will be always repeated. It consisted of sheets 
of Scilla Sibirica planted near and really running 
into thick colonies of Crocus purpureus, var. 
grandiflorus. The two strong tones of color are 
almost those of certain modern stained glass. The 
briUiancy of April grass provides a fine setting for 
this bold planting in a shrubbery border. The 
little bulbs should be set very close, and the 

17 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

patches of color, in the main, should be well de- 
fined. In fact, I prefer a large sheet of each color 
to several smaller groups with a resultant spotty 
effect. To my thinking, it is impossible to im- 
agine a finer early spring effect in either a small 
or a large place than these two bulbs in these two 
varieties to the exclusion of all else. 

The dwarf Iris reticulata — which should be 
better known, as no early bulb is hardier, richer 
in color and in scent — with its deep violet-purple 
flowers, planted closely in large masses, with 
spreading groups of Scilla near by, would produce 
an effect of blue and purple nearly like that above 
described. 

PIXK, L.i VENDER, AND CREAM- WHITE — :M.\T 

A fine efl'ect for late May, that has rejoiced 
my eye for some years, is shovm facing page 16. 
The flowers form the front of a shrubbery border 
composed entirely of Lemoine's hlacs in such va- 
rieties as Marie le Graye (white), Charles X 
(deep purphsh-red) , Madame Abel Chatenay 
(double, white). President Gre\y (double, blue), 
Emile Lemoine (double, pinkish), and Azurea 
(light blue) . While these are at their best, droop- 
ing sprays of bleeding-heart (dicentra) show their 

IS 



COLOR HARMONY 

rather bluish pink in groups below, with irregular 
clumps of a pearly lavender — a very light-gray- 
ish lavender — lent by Iris Germanica. A little 
back of the irises, their tall stems being considered, 
stand groups now of the fine Darwin tulip Clara 
Butt, now of tulip Reverend H. Ewbank. The 
slightly bluish cast of Clara Butt's pink binds 
the dicentra and the lavender, lilac, and iris to 
each other, and the whole effect is deepened and 
almost focussed by the strong lavender of Rever- 
end H. Ewbank tulip, in whose petals it is quite 
easy to see a pinkish tone. The contrast in form 
and habit of growth in such a border is worth 
noticing. The lilacs topping everything with 
their candlelike trusses of flowers; the dicentra, 
the next tallest, horizontal lines against the lilacs' 
perpendicular, as well as a foliage of extreme deli- 
cacy, contrasting with the bold dark-green of the 
lilac leaf; the tulips again, their conventional cups 
of rich color clear-cut against the taller growth; 
and grayish clouds of iris bloom, with their spears 
of leaves below, these last broken here and there 
by touches of a loose-flung, rather tall forget-me- 
not, Myosotis dissitiflora — all this creates an en- 
semble truly satisfying from many points of view. 
Speaking of tulips, why is not the May-flower- 

19 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

ing tulip Brimstone more grown? And what is 
there more lovely to behold than masses of this 
pale-lemon-colored double tulip, slightly tinged 
with pink, with soft mounds and sprays of the 
earliest forget-me-not gently lifting its sprays of 
turquoise-blue against the delicately tinted but 
vigorous heads of this wonderful tulip? 

CARMINE, LAVENDER, CREAM-WHITE, AND ORANGE 
— LATE MAY 

On a slope toward the north a few open spaces 
of poor soil between small white pines are covered 
by the trailing stems of Rosa Wichuraiana. Up 
through these thorny stems, along which tiny 
points of green only are showing, rise in mid-May 
glowing blooms of the May -flowering tulip Cou- 
leur Cardinal, with its deep-carmine petals on the 
outsid^ of which is the most glorious plumlike 
bloom that can exist in a flower. The exquisite 
true lavender of the single hyacinth Holbein, a 
"drift" of which starts in the midst of the car- 
mine-purple tulip and broadens as it seems to 
move down the slope, becomes itself merged in a 
large planting of Narcissus Orange Phoenix. This 
narcissus with its soft, creamy petals (both peri- 
anth and trumpet interspersed with a soft orange) 

20 



COLOR HARMONY 

does not, as the heading of this paragraph might 
suggest, fight with the color of the tuhp, which is 
far above it on the slope and whose purple exterior 
is beautifully echoed in softer tones of lavender 
by the hyacinth. 

CREAM- WHITE AND REDDISH ORANGE — JULY 

In early July a wealth of bloom is in every 
garden, and the decision in favor of any special 
combination of color is a matter of some difficulty. 
A very good planting in a border, however, is so 
readily obtained, and proves so effective, that it 
shall be noticed here. Some dozen or fifteen 
large bushes of the common elder stand in an ir- 
regular, rather oblong group; below the cream- 
white cluster of its charming bloom are seventy- 
five to a hundred glowing cups of Lilium elegans, 
one of the most common flowers of our gardens, 
and one of those rare hlies which render their 
grower absolutely care-free! Eighteen varieties 
of this fine lily appear in one EngKsh bulb fist; 
many of these are rather lower in height than the 
one I grow, which is L. elegans, var. fulgens. 

Below these Hhes again, that the stems may be 
well hid, clear tones of orange and yellow blanket 
flower (gaillardia) appear later in the month, car- 

21 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

rying on the duration of color and in no way in- 
terfering with the truly glorious effect produced 
by the elder and lilies. While the lilies are tall, 
the elder rises so well above them that a beauti- 
ful proportion of height is obtained. 

An improvement on this grouping would be the 
planting of masses of L. elegans, var. Wallacei, 
among the gaillardia below the taller lilies. The 
nearer view of the great mass of July would then 
be perfect. 

BRIGHT ROSE, GRAY-BLUE, PALE LAVENDER, AND 
WHITE — AUGUST 

In the facing cuts an arrangement of color for 
August bloom is set forth. The first photograph 
can give no adequate idea of the charming com- 
bination of phlox Pantheon, with its large trusses 
of tall rose-pink flowers, against the cloudy masses 
of sea-holly {Eryngium amethystinum) . While Miss 
Jekyll generally makes use of sea-holly in a 
broader way, that is as a partial means of transi- 
tion between different colors in a large border, I 
think it beautiful enough in itself to use at nearer 
range (and always with pink near by) in a small 
formal garden. Pantheon is a good phlox against 
it, but Fernando Cortez, that glowing brilliant 



?w%^ 







SEA HOLLY AND PHLOX PANTHEON 




PHLOX AURORE BOREALE, SEA HOLLY, AND CHRYSANTHEMUM 

MAXIMUM 



COLOR HARMONY 

pink, is better; it is the color of Coquelicot, but 
lacking the extra touch of yellow which makes 
the latter too scarlet a phlox for my garden. To 
the left of the sea-holly is Achillea 'ptarmica, and 
far beyond the tall pink phlox Aurore Boreale. In 
the lower cut phlox Eug. Danzanvilliers raises its 
lavender heads above another mass of sea-holly, 
a few spikes of the white phlox Fraulein G. von 
Lassberg appear to the left, and Chrysanthemum 
maximum provides a brilliant contrast in form 
and tone to its background of the beautiful eryn- 
gium. 

A use of verbena which does not appear in 
these illustrations, but which is frequently made 
with these groupings, is as follows: Below phlox 
Pantheon, or the Shasta daisy (or Chrysanthemum 
maximum), whichever chances to be toward the 
front of the planting, clumps of that clear warm 
pink verbena Beauty of Oxford complete a color 
scheme in perfect fashion. The pink of the ver- 
bena is precisely that of the Pantheon phlox, and 
the plants are allowed to grow free of pins. 

Like the geranium, the verbena is a garden 
standby — and, unlike the geranium, it sows itself. 
The first indulgence in verbenas by the quarter 
or half hundred is apt to be a trifle costly; but 

23 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

the initial cost is the only one, for if seed-pods 
are not too carefully removed, large colonies of 
little seedlings push through the ground the 
second year, and always, if one clear hue has been 
used, not only true to color but readily trans- 
plantable. 



24 



II 



COMPANION CROPS 



"A Garden! — The word is in itself a picture and what 
pictures it reveals." — E. V. B. 



II 

COMPANION CROPS 

TT will be as well to say at the outset that my 
-'- tastes are as far as possible removed from 
those popularly understood to be Japanese. I 
almost never regard a flower alone. I can ad- 
mire a perfect Frau Karl Druschki rose, a fine 
spray of Countess Spencer sweet pea, but never 
without thinking of the added beauty sure to be 
its part if a little sea-lavender were placed next 
the sweet pea, or if more of the delicious roses 
were together. Wherefore it will be seen that my 
mind is bent wholly on grouping or massing, and 
growing companion crops of flowers to that end. 
Mention is made only of those flower crops ac- 
tually in bloom at the same time in the garden 
illustrated. From this garden, of thirty-two beds 
separated by turf walks, and with two central 
cross-walks and an oblong pool for watering pur- 
poses, practically all yellow flowers have been elim- 
inated, and all scarlet as well. The early colum- 
bine {Aquilegia chrysantha) and the pale-yellow 

27 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

Thermopsis Caroliniana are the only yellows now 
permitted, and these only to make blues or purples 
finer by juxtaposition. All yellow, orange, and 
scarlet flowers are relegated to the shrubbery bor- 
ders; therefore, in speaking of companion crops 
in this garden, it will be understood that some 
of the greatest glories of July, August, and Sep- 
tember are omitted. 

As far as I know, no one has ever suggested the 
growing of various varieties of gladiolus among 
the lower ornamental grasses. This, if practicable 
culturally, should give many delightful effects. A 
yellow gladiolus, such as Eldorado, among the 
yellow-green grasses; the deep violet. Baron Hulot, 
or salmon-pinks, among the bluish-green. Stems 
of gladiolus must ever be concealed. This would 
do it gracefully and well. 

The two companion crops of spring flowers 
shown in cut are the early forget-me-not {Myo- 
sotis dissitiflora) , which presses close against the 
dark-red brick of the low post, while the Heavenly 
Blue grape hyacinth {Muscari botryoides, var.), a 
rich purplish-blue, blooms next it. Tulipa retro- 
flexa is seen in the foreground, and the buds of 
Scilla campanulata, var. Excelsior, when the pho- 
tograph was taken were about to open. After 

28 




MUSCARI HELIVBNLY BLUE, TULIPA RETROFLEXA, AND MYOSOTIS 
ALONG BRICK WALK 




ARABIS AND TULIP 
COTTAGE MAID 



DOUBLE GYPSOPHILA AND SHASTA 
DAISY 



COMPANION CROPS 

one day's sun the various bulbs and the forget- 
me-nots made a most ravishing effect with their 
clear tones of blue, lavender, and lemon-yellow. 

I never tire of singing the praises of Tulipa 
rctroflexa; it is among my great favorites in tulips. 
And this leads to the mention of that tulip, to me, 
the best of all for color, known under three names 
— Hobbema, Le Reve, and Sara Bernhardt. No 
other tulip has the wonderful and unique color of 
this. If you possess a room with walls in deli- 
cate creamy tones, furnished with a little old ma- 
hogany, and are happy enough to be able on some 
fine May morning to place there two or three 
bowls full of this tulip, you will understand my 
enthusiasm. The color may be described as one 
of those warm yet faded rose-pinks of old tapestry 
or other antique stuff; a color to make an artist's 
heart leap up. This is far from the subject, but 
these digressions must occasionally be excused. 

In small note-books — tiny calendars sent each 
year by a seed-house to its customers, and in 
which it is my habit to set down on each Sunday 
the names of plants in flower — I find the follow- 
ing were blooming on a day in May : Tulipa retro- 
Hexa, early forget-me-not, Muscari botryoides, var. 
Heavenly Blue; Scilla campanulata, var. Excel- 

29 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

sior; tulip Rose a Merveille, Campernelle jonquil. 
Narcissus Barri, var. Flora Wilson; Narcissus 
Poetaz, var. Louisa; Tulipa Greigi, Iris cyanea, 
var. pumila (a lovely variety, the blue of the sky), 
Phlox divaricata, var. Canadensis (the new variety 
of this, Laphami, is both larger and finer), so 
beautiful back of masses of Alyssum saxatile, or 
rock cress, both single and double, and Iberis 
Gihraltarica. 

On the Sunday one week earlier, there were in 
full bloom last spring, tulips Chrysolora, Count of 
Leicester (the best double in tawny yellows), Cou- 
leur Cardinal, Thomas Moore, Leonardo da Yinci, 
narcissus Queen of Spain and Flora Wilson, Louisa, 
poet's narcissus, 7m pumila (the common purple), 
and tulips Vermihon Brilliant, Queen of Holland, 
Clusiana, Greigi, Brunhilde, Cerise Gris de Lin 
(another of the faded pinks — in this case, however, 
so extreme that many gardeners would reject it), 
Gris de Lin, an enchanting if cold pink; Jaune 
a-platie, violas and arabis, a bank of Munstead 
primroses (certainly the apotheosis of the English 
primrose, if so imposing a word may be used for 
so shy a flower) . The arabis appears (facing page 
28) with Campernelle jonquils in the near part, 
the darling tuhp Cottage Maid blooming brightly 



COMPANION CROPS 

among the arabis and making the lovehest imag- 
inable spring bouquet. The single arabis I have 
now forsworn in favor of the new double variety, 
which is far more effective — like a tiny white 
stock without the stock's stiffness of habit — and 
quite as easy to grow and maintain. 

In the blossomy photograph, facing page 48, are 
found four or five companion crops of flowers, 
though that was a peculiar season in which this 
picture was made, when syringas bloomed with 
Canterbury bells ! Here peonies and Canterbury 
bells make up the bulk of bloom, some young 
syringa bushes showing white back of them, and 
sweetbrier covered with fragrant pink to the 
right. Sweet-williams and pinks may be found 
in the foreground with rich rose pyrethrum, the 
sweet-williams of a dark rose-red, in perfect har- 
mony with all the paler pinks near and beyond 
them. I may say here that, like most amateurs, 
I have a favorite color in flowers — the pink of 
Drummond phlox. Chamois Rose, or, in deeper 
tones, of sweet-wilHam Sutton's Pink Beauty, or 
the rosy-stock-flowered larkspur. When I say that 
such and such a flower is of a good warm pink, it 
is to the tones of one or the other of these that I 
would refer. 

31 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

On the date on which this picture of peonies 
was made there were to be found in bloom in my 
garden these: larkspur, Thcrmopsis Carolimana 
(which I grow near groups of tall pale-blue del- 
phinium, and which makes a lovely color effect, 
adding lemon-colored spikes to the blue), sweet- 
williams, Canterbury bells, peonies, Aquilegia 
chrysanfha, Ackillea ptarmica, hardy campanula, 
pinks both annual and hardy, foxgloves, roses, 
annual gypsophila, common daisies. The latter 
are valuable for masses of early white. I cut 
them to the ground as soon as bloom is over, 
when their low leaf-clumps are quickly covered 
by overhanging later flowers. 

The midsummer flower crops are, by all odds, 
the greatest in variety as they are in luxuriance. 
Some idea of the appearance of this garden in 
mid-July maj^ be had in the top cut facing, when 
the flowers fully open are almost all either blue 
or white, except toward the centre of the garden, 
where dehcate pink tones prevail, and the fine 
purple hardy phlox Lord Rayleigh blooms, giving 
richness to the picture and forming a combina- 
tion of colors, blue and rich purple, which is 
especially to my taste. 

The abundance of Gypsophila pmiiculata, var. 

32 





GYPSOPHILA AND LILIES IN THE GARDEN 



COMPANION CROPS 

elegans, will be noted throughout the garden, and 
just here may be recalled that delightful and sug- 
gestive article by Mr. Wilhelm Miller in "The 
Garden Magazine" for September, 1909, advo- 
cating the use of flowers with delicate foliage and 
tiny blossoms as aids to lightness of garden ef- 
fects, not to mention the new varieties of such 
flowers mentioned in the article, Crambe orientalis, 
Rodgersia, and various unfamiliar spireas. 

There are both a whiter gypsophila and a 
grayer. The former is the variety flore pleno, the 
latter the ordinary paniculata. They are both 
tremendous acquisitions to the garden, as their 
cloudlike masses of bloom give a wonderfully 
soft look to any body of flowers, besides making 
charming settings for flowers of larger and more 
distinct form, as in cut (page 28), where Shasta 
daisy Alaska is grown against the double gypso- 
phila. Lilium longiflorum is a companion crop of 
gypsophila, and I am much given to planting this 
low-growing lily below and among the gray soft- 
ness of the other. In bloom when the garden was 
a blaze of color in midsummer were these — or, pos- 
sibly, it is fairer to say, "Among those present": 
Delphinium, both the tall Belladonna and one of 
a lovely blue, Cantab by name, best of all lark- 

33 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

spurs; Delphinium Chinensis, var. grandiflora, in 
palest blues and whites; quantities of achillea, 
valuable but too aggressive as to roots to be alto- 
gether welcome in a small garden; Heuchera san- 
guinea, var. Rosamund; heliotrope of a deep pur- 
ple in the four central beds of the garden nearest 
the pool, in the centre of each heliotrope bed a 
clump of the medium tall and early perennial 
phlox Lord Rayleigh, warm purple (this was an 
experiment of my own which is most satisfactory 
in its result); baby rambler roses (Annchen 
Mueller), and climbing roses (the garden gate at 
the right is covered with Lady Gay). The arch 
between upper and lower gardens has young 
plants of Lady Gay also started against its sides. 
To continue with companion crops: perennial 
phlox Eugene Danzanvilliers, masses of palest 
lavender; Physostegia Virginica, var. alba; the 
lovely lavender-blue StoJcesia cyanea, Scabiosa Ja- 
ponica, sea-lavender {Statice incana, var. Silver 
Cloud), stocks in whites and deep purples, the 
annual phloxes Chamois Rose and Lutea — the 
latter so nice a tone of old-fashioned buff that it 
is useful as a sort of horticultural hyphen — and 
a charming double warm-pink poppy, nameless, 
which raises its fluffy head above its blue-green 

34 



COMPANION CROPS 

leaves from July till frost, and brings warmth and 
beauty to the garden. 

Time was when I preferred to see the chamo- 
mile, or anthemis, spread its pale-yellow masses 
below the blue delphinium spikes; but I now 
prefer whites, or better still, rich purples or pale 
lavenders, near, a closer harmony of color. 

One of the most successful plantings for bold- 
ness of effect is the one beyond the low hedge of the 
privet ibota; a detail is seen in cut facing page 36. 
This is of lemon and white hollyhocks, with thick, 
irregular groups of Lilium candidum upspringing 
before them. Sufficient room is left between the 
hedge and the lilies to cultivate and to trim the 
hedge, which is but two feet high. And when these 
tall pale flowers open and both the rusty growth 
of leaves at the base of the hollyhock stalks, and 
the yellowing leaves of the lily stems, are hidden by 
the trim dark hedge, the effect from the garden 
itself is surprisingly good. Numberless combina- 
tions of all these flowers, which bloom at the 
same time, suggest themselves, an infinite variety. 
Three plants which bloom in mid-July are the 
necessary and beautiful pink verbena. Beauty of 
Oxford, and the snapdragons in the fine new tones 
called pink, carmine-pink, and coral-red; also that 

35 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

exquisite flower, Clarkia elegans, in the variety 
known as Sutton's double salmon, one of the most 
graceful and remarkably pretty annuals which 
have ever come beneath my eye. Love-in-the-mist 
blooms now, and the best variety, Miss Jekyll, is 
exceedingly pretty and valuable. 

A list of companion crops for August most nat- 
urally begins with perennial phloxes; in my case, 
Pantheon, used very freely; Aurore Boreale, Fer- 
nando Cortez (wonderful brilliant coppery pink), 
a very little Coquelicot, used in conjunction with 
sea-holly; white phloxes Van Lassburg and Fiancee, 
zinnia in light flesh tones, the good lavender-pink 
physostegia (Virginica rosea), sea-holly, stocks, 
and dianthus of the variety Salmon Queen. 

There is hardly space left in which to mention 
the flower crops which enrich September with 
color. But no list of the flowers of that month 
should begin with the name of anything less lovely 
than the tall, exquisite, pale-blue Salvia patens. 
Called a tender perennial, I have found it entirely 
hardy; and the sudden blooming of a pale-blue 
flower spike in early autumn is as welcome as it 
is surprising. Second to this I place the hardy 
aster, or Michaelmas daisy, now to be had in many 
named varieties and forming, with the salvia just 

36 




£ 

Q 
Q 

H 

M 
]— ( 

o 



COMPANION CROPS 

named, a rare combination of light colors. My 
hardy asters thus far have been practically two, 
Pulcherrima and Coombe Fishacre, two weeks 
later; this gives me four weeks of lavender bloom 
in September and October. The accommodating 
gladiolus, which, as every one knows, will bloom 
whenever one plans to have it, is a treasure now. 
America, which has so much lavender in its pink, 
is exceeding fair in combination with either of 
these hardy asters; and when spikes of the salvia 
are added to a mass of these two flowers of which 
I have just spoken, you have one of the loveliest 
imaginable companion crops of flowers. 

A prospective combination not yet tried but 
which I am counting upon this season is blue lyme 
grass {Elymus arenarius) with Chamois Rose 
Phlox Drummondii below it, and back of it gladio- 
lus William Falconer. The lyme grass has much 
blue in its leaves, and so has the gladiolus; there 
should be excellent harmonies of both foliage and 
flower. 

Very lately, long since the above was written, 
a color combination most subtle and beautiful, 
a September picture, has come to view: Salvia 
farinacea, a soft blue-lavender, with clustering 
spikes of palest pink stock near it, very close to 

37 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

it, were the two subjects so perfectly suited to 
each other. Let me commend this arrangement 
as something rather out of the common, for I can 
hardly think this salvia is often met with in our 
gardens. And the use of a lovely but unfamiliar 
flower will bring with it a certain additional 
pleasure. 



38 



Ill 

SUCCESSION CROPS 



"Give me a tree, a well, a hive. 
And I can save my soul alive." 

— " Thank s giN-Jng," K.^tharixe Ttnax. 



Ill 

SUCCESSION CROPS 

EASY enough it is to plan successive flower 
crops for different parts of a place: but not 
so easy, considering the limited amount of nour- 
ishment in the soil and the habit of growth of 
various flowering plants, to cover one spot for 
weeks with flowers. An immense variety of treat- 
ment is possible and much disagreement must be 
beforehand conceded. Calculations for varying 
latitudes must be made with more than usual 
care; and the question of individual taste asserts 
itself with great insistence. 

A very rough and hard bank of nearly solid 
clay with a south exposure has for some years 
been planted to narcissus Emperor, Cynosure, and 
one or two other rather later varieties. Striking 
boldly along among these, while in full bloom, 
grows an irregular line, thickening and thinning 
in places, of tulip Vermilion Brilliant, absolutely 
described by its name. As the flowers of these 
scarlet and yellow bulbs commence to fade, the 

41 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

ground below them begins to green with Httle 
leaves of calendulas Orange King and Sulphur 
Queen, as well as of the fine double white poppy 
White Swan. These practically cover the dying 
bulb leaves in a few weeks and produce a succes- 
sion of charming bloom beginning rather early in 
the summer. A few zinnias do well among them, 
the medium tall varieties grown only from seed 
labelled "Flesh-color." For my purposes this zin- 
nia color is always the best. It generally produces 
flowers varying from flesh-pink to pale or faded 
yellow, colors which in all their range look so well 
with yellow or warm pink flowers that many 
unique and lovely combinations are obtained by 
their free use. Beware of the zinnia seed marked 
"Rose," and of all mixtures of this seed. The 
seed rarely comes true to color, and its bad colors 
are so hideously wrong with most other flowers 
that they are a very real menace to the beginner 
in what we might call picture-gardening. 

Iceland poppies, thickly planted among the nar- 
cissi and tulips, would bring a crop of charming 
silken blooms well held above the foliage already 
on that bank, and coming between the earlier and 
later flower crops. 

The little walk of dark brick shown in the first 




BORDERS OF PALE BLUE, BLUE -PURPLE, AND PALE YELLOW 




TULIP COTTAGE MAID WITH ARABIS ALPINA 



SUCCESSION CROPS 

illustration is bordered in very early spring by 
blue grape hyacinths (Muscari botryoides), fol- 
lowed closely by the fine forget-me-not Myosotis 
dissiti flora in mounds and sprays. Among these 
are quantities of the cream-white daffodil {Narcis- 
sus cernuus). Alternating with the plants of early 
forget-me-not are many more of Sutton's Perfec- 
tion and Sutton's Royal Blue, which come into 
bloom as the earliest fade; these grow very tall 
and form a foreground of perfect loveliness for 
the tall Tulipa retroflexa, which rises irregularly 
back of the small sky-blue flowers below, complet- 
ing a combination of cream color and light blue 
charmingly delicate and effective. Following the 
two blue and cream-white crops of flowers border- 
ing this walk, dark-pink phloxes bloom in early 
August, three successive periods of gayety being 
thus assured to the little pathway. 

A continuation of this walk, running toward 
a wooden gateway in a trellised screen, may boast 
also of three successive flower-appearances of dif- 
ferent kinds. Back of the brick edging bordering 
the gravel are planted alternating groups of myo- 
sotis Sutton's Royal Blue, hardy dianthus Her 
Majesty, and early and late hardy asters, the 
two mentioned in another chapter, Coombe Fish- 

43 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

acre and Pulcherrima. First to enliven the bor- 
ders with color is the myosotis, a peculiarly pretty 
effect occurring in the leading up, at either end of 
the walk, of the irregular edge-groups of pale blue 
to low masses of the old-fashioned Harison's Yellow 
and Persian Yellow rose. Late forget-me-not is 
never lovelier than when used in connection with 
this rose. The combination reminds me of the 
delicate colors of the flower-boxes below each win- 
dow of Paquin's great establishment in the Rue 
de la Paix, as it may be seen every May. Fol- 
lowing the myosotis and yellow roses come masses 
of the scented white pinks, while by this time the 
hardy asters have developed into handsome dark- 
green groups of leaves and give all through the 
summer a rich green contrasting well with the 
gray mounds of dianthus foliage, and finally, in 
September, rising suddenly into sprays of tall, fine 
lavender bloom. 

No succession crop of spring and early summer 
that I have happened upon seems to work bet- 
ter than that of tulip Yellow Rose planted in 
small spaces between common and named varie- 
ties of Oriental Poppy. The tulip, in itself of 
gorgeous beauty, very rich yellow and extremely 
double, absolutely lacks backbone, and the first 

44 



SUCCESSION CROPS 

heavy shower brings its widely opened flowers to 
earth to be bespattered with mud. The leaves 
of the poppy, upright and hairy, form a capital 
support for the misbehaving stem of Yellow 
Rose, and the poppies, having thus lent the tulips 
aid in time of need, go a step farther and cover 
their drying foliage with a handsome acanthus- 
like screen of green surmounted by the noble 
scarlet and salmon blooms of early June. This 
is a very simple, practical, and safe experiment in 
succession crops, and is heartily commended. Fol- 
lowing these poppies comes the bloom of a few 
plants of campanula Die Fee, and I am trying this 
year the experiment of Campanula pyramidalis in 
blues and whites thickly planted among the pop- 
pies, for late summer bloom when the poppy 
leaves shall have vanished. This is a large de- 
mand to make upon the earth in a small space, 
but, with encouragement by means of several top- 
dressings of well-rotted manure, I hope to accom- 
plish this crop succession satisfactorily. Among 
the yellow columbines {Aquilegia chrysantha) I 
generally tuck quantities of white or purple stocks, 
those known as Sutton's Perfection. The aqui- 
legia is cut close to the ground as soon as its seed- 
pods take the place of flowers; and the stocks are 

45 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

then beginning their long period of bloom. Can- 
terbury bells are usually the centres of colonies of 
annual asters (my great favorites are the single 
Aster Sinensis, in chosen colors — not to be had in 
every seed-hst, by the way), and of groups of 
gladiolus bulbs so arranged as to hide the vacancy 
left when the Canterbury bells must be Hfted from 
the ground after blooming. 

In four places in the garden where rather low- 
growing things are desired, are alternate groups 
of a handsome, dark, velvety-red sweet-wilham — 
the seed of which was given me by Miss Jekyll, 
who described this as the color of the sweet-wil- 
liam of the old English cottage garden — and well- 
grown plants of Stohesia cyanea. As soon as the 
fine heads of sweet-william begin to crisp and dry, 
the beautiful lavender-blue flowers of the Stokesia 
take up the wondrous tale, and a veil of delicate 
blue is drawn over the spots which a few days 
since ran red with a riot of dark loveliness. 

Among larkspurs I plant Salvia patens, which 
to look tidy when blooming must be carefully 
staked while the stems are pliable and tender. 
Second crops of delphinium bloom seem to me a 
mistake — I beHeve the vitality of the plant is 
somewhat impaired and the color of the flowers is 

46 




MUNSTEAD PRIMROSE AND TULIP WHITE SWAN ON SLOPE 
BELOW POPLAR AND PINE 



SUCCESSION CROPS 

seldom as clear and fine as in the first crop. Green 
leaves in plenty should be left, of course: the 
lower part of Salvia patens is not attractive and 
its pale-blue flowers have added beauty rising from 
the fresh delphinium foliage. 

The plan of planting the everlasting pea (La- 
thyrus latifolius, var. The Pearl) among delphin- 
iums, to follow their bloom by clouds of white 
flowers, is recommended by an English authority. 
To continue the blue of tall delphinium, the very 
best succession crop is that of Delphinium Chi- 
nensis or grandiflora, the lower branching one with 
the cut leaf; a fine hardy perennial in exquisite 
shades of pale and deep blue, whose flowers are 
at their very best immediately after the spikes 
of their blue sisters have gone into retirement. 

The fine new Dropmore variety of Anchusa 
Italica is exceedingly good placed near the vigor- 
ous green spikes of the leaves of the white false 
dragonhead (Physostegia Virginica^ var. alba) : when 
the latter is low, the great anchusa leaves nearly 
cover it; and after the crop of brilliant blue 
flowers is exhausted, and the robust plants are 
cut back, the physostegia raises its tall white 
spikes of bloom a few weeks later, brightening an 
otherwise dull spot. 

47 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

Platycodons, both blue and white, are capital 
to dwell among and succeed Canterbury bells; 
the platycodons to be followed again in their turn 
by the later-blooming Campanula pyramidalis. 

Will some kind garden-lover make me his debtor 
by suggesting a good neighbor and successor to 
the hardy phlox? This has been a problem in a 
locality where frost is due in early September, and 
some of the tenderer things, such as cosmos, are 
really nothing but a risk. If one could raze one's 
phloxes to the ground once they had finished their 
best bloom, the case might be different. But the 
French growers now advise (according to interest- 
ing cultural instructions for phlox-growing issued 
by one specialist) the retention of all flower stalks 
during winter ! This makes necessary an im- 
mense amount of work in the way of cutting, to- 
ward early September, in order that the phloxes 
may keep some decent appearance as shrublike 
plants of green. 

To follow the bloom of 7m Germanica (of which 
I find two varieties planted together, Mrs. Hor- 
ace Darwin and Gloire de Hillegom, to give a 
charming succession crop of flowers with a change 
of hue as well), I have already recommended the 
planting of gladiolus. Lilium candidum growing 

48 




PEONIES AND CANTERBURY BELLS 



^f^ 






DISCREET USE OF RAMBLER ROSE, LADY GAY 



SUCCESSION CROPS 

back of iris leaves is also effective, and, by care- 
fully considered planting, gladiolus forms a be- 
tween-crop of no little value. 

Of succession crops to follow each other in 
places apart, it is hardly worth while to speak. 
This is an easy matter to arrange; the fading of 
color before one shrubbery group acting as a signal 
to another place to brighten, Munstead primroses 
(cut, page 46) are scarcely out of bloom when tulip 
Cottage Maid and arabis are in beauty, as in cut on 
page 42, in an unused spot under grapes, and these 
are quickly followed by rambler roses (cut, page 48), 
peonies, and Canterbury bells in the garden proper 
(cut, page 48). Bordering on the turf edges of 
a walk in a kitchen garden three succession crops 
of flowers have been obtained by the use of these 
three plantings. Roses stand a foot back from the 
grass. Between them and the turf long, irregular 
masses of Tulipa Gesneriana, var. rosea, bloom 
rich rose-red in May. The roses follow in June; 
and Beauty of Oxford verbena covers the dying 
tulip leaves with clusters of wonderful pink bloom 
which lasts well into the autumn. 

I have sometimes thought that a white garden 
would be a simple matter to arrange, and that, 
under certain very green and fresh conditions and 

49 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

with plenty of rich shadow to give its tones va- 
riety, it should not be monotonous. The procession 
of white flowers is so remarkable, beginning, say, 
with the snowdrop, bloodroot, sweet white violet, 
and the arabis in its single and double forms, followed 
quickly by Iberis Gibraltarica and Phlox suhulata, 
white \dolas — all these for the low early flowers 
— and followed by larger, taller, and more mas- 
sive blooms, from peonies on to Canterbury bells, 
thence to lilies, white hollyhocks, gypsophilas, Pearl 
achillea, and white phloxes. Dozens of flower 
names occur at the mere thought. It seems as 
though every flower must have its white repre- 
sentative. Whether an all-white garden would 
be truly agreeable or no, I cannot say, but I do 
hold that sufficient white is not used in our gar- 
dens — that a certain brilliancy in sunlight is lost 
by the absence of masses of white flowers, succes- 
sion crops of which it is so easy to obtain and 
maintain. With the free use of white flowers, 
there is sure to be a fresh proclamation of beauty, 
too, at twilight and under the moon — arguments 
which must appeal to the amateur gardener of 
poetic taste. 



50 



IV 



JOYS AND SORROWS OF A 
TRIAL GARDEN 



'Here is a daffodil. 

Six-winged as seraphs are; 
They took her from a Spanish hill. 

Wild as a wind-blown star. 
When she was born 

The angels came 
And showed her how her petals should be worn. 

Now she is tame — 
She hath a Latin name." 

— "A London Flower Show," 

Evelyn Underhill. 



IV 

JOYS AND SORROWS OF A 
TRIAL GARDEN 

THE three indispensable adjuncts of a good 
flower garden, when considering its upkeep, 
are, in the order of their importance : a tool-house 
well stocked, a good supply of compost, and space 
for a trial garden. In planting for color effect 
the trial garden is a necessity. The space for it 
may be small: no matter; plant in it one of a 
kind. The gardener happy in the possession of 
the visuaUzing sense may take the one plant and 
in his or her imagination readily see its effect as 
disposed in rows, groups, or large masses. 

My own trial garden space is very small; and 
my idea has been from the first to secure plants 
for it in multiples of four, if possible according to 
size. The formtil flower garden happens to be 
arranged ahke in all four quarters of its plan, and 
this habit of balanced planting makes the trying 
out of eight or sixteen of a kind a really econom- 

53 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

ical thing in the end. If the plants please, and 
the colors form an agreeable combination with 
others already in the garden, their removal in the 
autumn from trial-garden rows to certain spots in 
the garden proper is simple. 

A portion of the trial garden is kept for seed, 
and the balance for small collections of bulbs or 
plants; except so much space as is reserved for 
the fours, eights, and sixteens mentioned above. 
Of Crambe cordifolia, for example, I should never 
plant more than four, owing to its great size and 
spreading habit of growth, while of a dwarf hardy 
phlox eight should be the least. It occurs to me 
often that some of us underestimate the enormous 
value of this wonderful plant. Sure to bloom as 
is the sun to rise and set, varying in its height as 
few other flowers do, with a range of wonderful 
color unsurpassed, perhaps unrivalled, by any 
hardy flower, the gardener's consolation in a hot, 
dry August, when it maketh the wilderness of the 
midsummer formal garden to blossom as the rose 
— there is a delightful combination of certainty 
and beauty about it which cannot be overpraised. 
Forbes, the great Scotch grower, in his last list 
gives six pages of fine type to this flower. It is 
like a clock in its day of bloom, another great 

54 



A TRIAL GARDEN 

point in its favor. I have, for instance, three 
varieties of white which follow each other as the 
celebrated sheep over the wall, each brightening 
as the other goes to seed. No lovelier thing could 
be conceived than a garden of phloxes, a perfect 
garden of hardy phloxes; in fact, an interesting 
experiment if one had time and space for it would 
be a garden made up entirely of varieties of phlox; 
beginning with the lovely colors now obtainable 
in the P. suhulata group, next the fine lavenders 
of P. divaricata, then an interim of good green 
foHage till Miss Lingard of the P. decussata sec- 
tion made its appearance, to be followed by the 
full orchestra of the general group of violets and 
purples (basses); mauves, lavenders, and pinks 
(violas, 'cellos, and brasses); and the range of 
whites (flutes and violins). At the close of this 
concert of phlox-color the audience must leave 
the garden. The pity is that August is its last 
hour. The strains of glorious music, however, 
follow one over the winter snows. 

But this ramble has carried me far afield. To 
return to the trial garden — heucheras in the fol- 
lowing varieties were admitted to this place last 
fall: hrizoides, gracillima, Richardsoni, splendens, 
Pluie de Feu, and Lucifer. They flourished su- 

55 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

perbly, although their Httle roots had been sub- 
jected to the test of a two weeks' journey by sea 
and land from an English nursery to Michigan. 
The flower spikes of these hybrid heucheras were 
thirty-two inches high by actual measurement ! 
Another year, when well established, they should 
send up even longer spikes. Their colors vary 
from very rich coral-red to pale salmon, but in- 
variably on the right side of pink — the yellow 
rather than the blue. This encourages me to 
think of them in connection with sweet-william 
Sutton's Pink Beauty (Newport pink). Next 
year I hope to see the heucheras' tall delicate 
sprays emerging from the flat lower masses of the 
others' bloom, since they flower simultaneously. 
Long after the sweet-william has gone to its 
grave upon the dust heap, however, the heu- 
cheras continue to wave their lacelike pennants of 
bright color. I hardly know of any plant which 
has so long a period of bloom. The only heu- 
cheras familiar to me before were the common 
species H. sanguinea and the much-vaunted va- 
riety Rosamunde. While these are very beauti- 
ful, they have not w^ith me the height nor the 
generally robust appearance necessary for full ef- 
fect in mass planting. The leaves of H. Richard- 

56 




HEUCHERA SANGUINEA HYBRIDS 




RAMBLER ROSE LADY GAY OVER GATE 



A TRIAL GARDEN 

soni (which are, as Miss Jekyll points out, at 
their best in spring, with the bronze-red color) 
make a capital ground cover below certain daffo- 
dils and tulips, and contrast well with foliage of 
other tones which may neighbor them in the late 
summer. These heucheras are not common enough 
in our gardens or in simple borders. Their bril- 
liant appearance joined to the long flowering 
period makes them garden plants of rare quality. 
Let me suggest placing one of the brighter varie- 
ties before a good group of white Canterbury 
bells with the same pink sweet-william already 
mentioned near by. By "near by" I mean really 
close by, no interfering spaces of earth to injure 
the effect. I am unalterably opposed to garden- 
ing in the thin, sparse fashion which some gardeners 
affect, and never let an inch of soil appear. Let 
the earth be never so good nor so carefully weeded 
and cultivated, it is only now and again that an 
edge of turf should be seen, "in my foohsh opin- 
ion," as the Reverend Joseph Jacob's old gardener 
is apt to remark to his master, the delightful 
writer on flowers. 

Sixteen peonies with grand French names graced 
my trial garden this year, standing demurely 
equidistant from each other in a stiff row. Their 

57 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

bloom was feeble, small, and hardly worth noting 
for this first season; next year they should be 
subjects for observation. It was a disappoint- 
ment that Baroness Schroeder refused to show a 
single flower this spring. For lo, these many 
years have I looked at prices and longed to pos- 
sess this glorious peony; and, now that she is 
within my gates, to find her refusing to speak to 
me must be set down as one of the sorrows of this 
trial garden. 

But the daffodils ! Early in the spring those 
wonderful varieties suggested by Reverend Joseph 
Jacob in the columns of "The Garden" as repre- 
sentative of the various classes — those far ex- 
ceeded and outshone all anticipation. Mr. Jacob's 
list will be interesting to lovers of the narcissus 
in this country. I subjoin it: 

Yellow Trumpets: Emperor, Glory of Leiden, 
Maximus, Golden Bell, P. R. Barr, Queen of 
Spain {Johnstoni) . 

White Trumpets: Madame de Graaff. 

Bicolor Trumpets: Apricot, Empress, J. B. M. 
Camm, Victoria, Mrs. W. T. Ware. 

Cups loitli Yellow Perianths: Albatross, Lucifer, 
Citron, Duchess of W'estminster, W^hite Lady, 
Ariadne, Lulworth, Dorothy W^emyss, M. M. de 

58 



A TRIAL GARDEN 

Graaff, Minnie Hume, Artemis, Water witch. Crown 
Prince, and Flora Wilson. 

Pheasant Eyes: Ornatus, Homer, Horace, Cas- 
sandra, Recurvus, Eyebright, and Comus. 

Doubles: Argent, Orange Phoenix, Golden Phoenix. 

Bunch-flowered: Elvira (Poetaz), Campernelle 
jonquils {rugulosus variety). 

Of each of these I planted two a year ago. 
Fifty varieties set some four inches apart gave 
three good rows of daffodils, and of these but 
four or five were already familiar. The first to 
really attract and enthrall me was Eyebright. It 
draws as a star at night. Its rarely brilliant color 
and distinct form make it one of the greatest 
joys afforded by the trial garden. Next came 
the wonderful Argent, a fine star-shaped flower, 
half-double, pale yellow and cream-white. Then, 
in order, Barri conspicuus was a very fine daffodil 
— yellow perianth, with cup of brilliant orange- 
scarlet. Then Mrs. Walter T. Ware, one of the 
best of the lot in every way. Gloria Mundi is a 
very beautiful flower, yellow perianth with a 
bright cup of orange-scarlet. Sir Watkin, a huge 
daffodil, and effective, is entirely yellow. Minnie 
Hume, a pale flower full of charm. Artemis, a 
beauty, small but of compact form. Eyebright 

59 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

and Firebrand were the brightest and most glow- 
ing of the fifty. Elvira, of the Poetaz group, is a 
telling flower with its rich cream-white bunches 
of bloom and pale cup of straw-color. This daf- 
fodil, grown in masses in woodlands, should pro- 
duce a very marvellous spring picture. I have 
fancied, too, that its fine flowers above the low 
Iris 'pumila, var. cyanea, might be a sight worth 
seeing. 

These fragmentary notes are all that can be 
given here. It is hard to choose from so many 
perfect flowers a few which seem more remark- 
able than the rest. My practice was, as these 
daffodils came toward flowering, to cut one from 
each bulb while hardly out of the bud, label it 
with a bit of paper high up on the stem, and 
keep it before me in water for observation and 
comparison. They were unmitigated "joys" — 
as daffodils always are. What a marvel to have 
a few garden things such as tulips, daffodils, and 
phlox, subject to no insect pests, Uving through 
the severe winters of our chmate, and in such va- 
riety as to amaze those who hke myself are only 
beginning to know what has been done by hy- 
bridizers ! 

Among the joys of the summer in the trial 

60 




HYBRID COLUMBINES BELOW BRIAR ROSE LADY PENZANCE 




NARCISSUS BARRI FLORA WILSON 



A TRIAL GARDEN 

spaces was Clematis recta. So satisfactory was it 
here that I count on using it freely in the main 
garden. It grew to a height of perhaps two feet, 
with loose clusters of white bloom much like those 
of the climbing C. yaniculata, held well above a 
pretty and shrublike plant whose delicately cut 
foliage is of a remarkably fine tone of dark bluish- 
green. The green holds its own well in hot, dry 
weather, and gives it value as a low background 
after its bloom has gone. 

Perennial phloxes receive some attention in 
this trial garden. Of these, one new to me, An- 
tonin Mercie, shall have special mention, first be- 
cause of its good color, a light lilac-lavender; next 
because of its rather early bloom — August 5 or 
thereabouts in 43° N. latitude; and last because 
of its rather low and very branching habit. The 
spread of its good green leaves and full flower 
trusses makes it an unusually good phlox for the 
formal garden, and its resemblance in color to 
Eugene Danzanvilliers, the taller and more pearly 
lavender phlox, fits it admirably for use before 
the latter. If Lord Rayleigh were just a little 
later, what a delicious combination of lavenders 
and violet could be arranged ! Phlox R. P. Struth- 
ers, a brilhant dark pink, redder than Pantheon, 

61 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

not so red as Coquelicot, more perhaps on the 
order of the fine Fernando Cortez than any phlox 
with which I can compare it, is another immense 
acquisition. This is also early, with a much larger 
truss of bloom than Fernando Cortez. Standing 
below groups of sea-holly (Eryngium amethystinum) 
great masses of this would prove most telling. 

Of many other experiments and tryings-out 
should I like to write here: of Mr. Walsh's fine 
rambler roses, notably Excelsa, which is in a fair 
way to equal the popularity of Lady Gay; of 
some new larkspurs, a small collection of colum- 
bines, and another of hardy asters. I will only 
add a word concerning the one sorrow of a trial 
garden which has no cure. It is the loss of what 
the good old Englishman without whom I should 
be helpless is pleased to call "lay bells." WTien 
a "laybell" is gone, then is the garden world up- 
side down ! All my bearings are lost ; and I hate 
the anonymous inhabitant, the creature without 
identity, who has the effrontery to stand up and 
bloom as though he were perfectly at home where 
those who see him know him not ! 



62 



BALANCE IN THE FLOWER 
GARDEN 



A sun-dial is calm time, old time, beautiful spacious time 
in a garden; it is slow waltz time, — time that flows like a 
shining twist of honey, sweet and slow. A sun-dial prods 
nobody, a sun-dial can trance and forget; it lets the green 
hours glide. And at the close of day, when Evening leans 
upon the garden gate, your sun-dial ceases to suppose it 
knows the hour. 

— "The Villa for Coelebs," J. H. Yoxall. 



BALANCE IN THE FLOWER 
GARDEN 

WHEN the chance to arrange the planting of 
a formal garden of my own fell into my 
hands, about eight years ago, I felt strongly the 
need of advice in what I was about to do. Ad- 
vice, however, was not forthcoming, and at the 
outset I fell, of course, into the pit of absurdity. 
Without any reason for so doing, I decided to 
arrange the planting in this garden (a balanced de- 
sign in four equal parts with eight beds in each 
section) as though the whole were a scrap of per- 
ennial border a few feet wide and a few feet long. 
The ridiculous idea occurred to me to have the 
garden a picture to be looked at from the house 
alone. The matter of garden design was to fade 
out of sight except with regard to the few beds 
immediately surrounding the small central pool. 
These were planted more or less formally, with 
heliotrope in the four parallelograms nearest the 

65 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

centre, and iris and lilies in four other spaces near 
the rest. I endeavored to produce irregular cross- 
wise banks of color from the far end of the garden 
to the part nearest the house — scarlet, orange, and 
yellow, with a fair sprinkling of hollyhocks in yel- 
low and white on the more distant edge; before 
these, crowds of white flowers, gray -leaved plants 
and blue-flowering things; and, nearest of all to 
the beholder, brighter and paler pinks. 

The result was nothing but an ugly muddle — 
indescribably so when one happened to be in the 
midst of the garden itself. For two or three years 
I bore with this unhappy condition of things; in- 
deed, nothing but the fact that the flowers con- 
ducted themselves in remarkably luxuriant and 
brilliant fashion, due to the freshness and richness 
of the soil, could have saved me from seeing sooner 
the silly mistake I had made; when, chancing to 
look down upon the garden from an upper win- 
dow, the real state of things suddenly revealed 
itseK, and from that day I set about to plan and 
plant in totally different fashion. 

With Mr. Robinson, I feel against the wretched 
carpet-bedding system, while I quite agree, on the 
other hand, with the spokesman for the formalists, 
Reginald Blomfield, who declared that there is no 

66 



BALANCE IN THE GARDEN 

such thing as the "wild garden," that the name 
is a contradiction of terms. The one thing I do 
maintain is that advice, the very best advice, is 
the prime necessity: for those who can afford it, 
the fine landscape architect; for those who can- 
not, the criticism or counsel of some friend or ac- 
quaintance whose experience has been wider than 
their own. The time is sure to come when experts 
in the art of proper flower-grouping alone will be 
in demand. 

There is no doubt about it, our grandmothers 
were right when they preferred to see a vase on 
each side of the clock ! With a given length of 
shelf and a central object on that shelf, one's in- 
stinct for equalizing calls for a second candlestick 
or bowl to balance the first. My meaning may 
be illustrated by a recent picture in "The Cen- 
tury Magazine" of Mrs. Tyson's beautiful garden 
at Berwick, Maine. Charming as is this lovely 
garden-vista, with its delightful posts in the fore- 
ground, repeating the lines of slim poplar in the 
middle distance, it would have given me much 
more pleasure could those heavy-headed white or 
pale-colored phloxes on the right have had a per- 
fect repetition of their effective masses exactly 
opposite — directly across the grass walk. These 

67 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

phloxes cry aloud for balance, placed as they 
seem to be in a distinctly formal setting. 

So it is in the formal flower garden. I have 
come to see quite plainly, through several years 
of lost time, that balanced planting throughout 
is the only planting for a garden that has any 
design worth the name. It is difficult to con- 
ceive of that formal garden in which the use of 
formal or clipped trees would be inappropriate; 
and these we must not fail to mention, not only 
because of the fine foil in color and rich back- 
ground of dark tone which they bring into the gar- 
den, but because of their shadow masses as well and 
their value as accents. And that word *' accents" 
brings me to the consideration of the first impor- 
tant placing of flowers in a garden which like my 
own is, unlike all Gaul, divided into four parts. 

Two cross-walks intersect my garden, causing 
four entrances. To flank each of these entrances, 
it can be at once seen, balanced planting must 
prevail. In the eight beds whose corners occur 
at these entrances, this planting is used: large 
masses of Tkcrmopsis Carolimana give an early 
and brightly conspicuous bloom. Around these 
the tall salmon-pink phlox, Aurore Boreale, much 
later; below this — filling out the angle of the 

68 



BALANCE IN THE GARDEN 

corner to the very point — the blue lyme grass 
{Elymus arenarius), gladiolus William Falconer, 
and lowest, of all, Phlox Drummondii, var. Chamois 
Rose. None of these colors fight with each other 
at any time, and the large group of tall-growing 
things is well fronted by the intermediate heights 
of the lyme grass and the gladiolus when in growth 
or in bloom. The four far corners of my garden 
I also consider more effective when planted with 
tall-growing flowers; in these the Dropmore, An- 
chusa Italica, first shines bluely forth; this soon 
gives place to the white physostegia, with phlox 
Fernando Cortez blooming below the slim white 
spikes just mentioned; and last, to light up the 
corners, comes the mauve Physostegia Virginica, 
var. rosea, whose bloom here is far more profuse 
and effective than that of its white sisters. This 
grouping gives almost continuous bloom and very 
telling color from mid- June to mid-September; 
the periods of green, when they occur, are short, 
and the vigorous-looking plants are not at all 
objectionable before they blossom. The effect of 
balanced planting in these corners I consider good. 
The eye is carried expectantly from one angle to 
another and expectation is fulfilled. 

In the centre of this garden are four rectangular 

69 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

beds, corresponding in proportion to the size of 
the rectangular pool. These, as forming part of 
the centre of the garden, are always planted ex- 
actly alike. Purple of a rich bluish cast is one 
of the colors which bind instead of separate, and 
purple it is which here becomes an excellent focal 
color for the garden. In the middle of each bed 
is a sturdy group of the hardy phlox Lord Ray- 
leigh, surrounded on all sides by heliotrope of the 
darkest purple obtainable. This year, however, 
I expect to replace the heliotrope with even bet- 
ter effect by a tall blue ageratum, which I saw in 
one or two Connecticut gardens, as the paler color 
is more telling and quite as neutral for such a 
position. Speaking of this ageratum, I may per- 
haps digress for a moment to mention a charming 
effect I saw on an out-of-door dining-table last 
summer, obtained by the use of this flower. The 
color of the table was a pale cool green and most 
of its top was exposed; in the centre stood a 
bowl of French or Italian pottery, bearing a care- 
less gay decoration, and at the four corners smaller 
bowls. These were filled, to quote the words of 
the knowing lady whose happy arrangement this 
was, "with zinnias which had yellows and copper- 
reds, with the variety which resulted from an order 

70 



BALANCE IN THE GARDEN 

of salmon-pinks and whites. We really had almost 
everything but salmon-pink." 

The zinnias, I who saw them can affirm, made 
a most briUiant mass of color not altogether har- 
monious; but all was set right by the introduc- 
tion, sparingly managed, of the lovely ageratum. 
Dwarf Imperial Blue. The eye of her who ar- 
ranged these flowers saw that a balm was needed 
in Gilead; the ageratum certainly brought the 
zinnia colors into harmony as nothing else could 
have done, and a charmingly gay and original 
decoration was the result. What a suggestion 
here, too, for the planting of a Httle garden of 
annuals ! 

We are apt to think of balance in the formal 
garden as obtained for the most part by the use 
of accents in the shape of formal trees, or by 
some architectural adjunct. I beHeve that color 
masses and plant forms should correspond as ab- 
solutely as the more severe features of such a 
garden. For example, in practically the same 
spot in all four quarters of my garden there are, 
for perhaps four to six weeks, similar masses 
of tall white hardy phloxes, the blooming period 
beginning with Von Lassberg and closing with 
Jeanne d'Arc, the white repeated in the dwarf 

71 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

phlox Tapis Blanc in four places nearer the centre 
of the garden. 

For accents in flowers, the mind flies naturally 
to the use, first, of the taller and more formal 
types of flowers. Delphiniums with their fine up- 
rightness and glorious blues; hollyhocks where 
space is abundant and rust doth not corrupt ; the 
magnificent mulleins, notably Vcrbascum Olympi- 
cum, might surely emphasize points in design; and 
I read but now of a new pink one of fine color, 
which, though mentioned as a novelty in Miss 
Ellen ^Yillmott's famous garden at AYarley, Eng- 
land, will be sure to cross the water soon if in- 
vited by our enterprising nurserymen. Lilies of 
the cup-upholding kinds, standard roses, standard 
wistarias, standard heliotropes are all to be had. 
The use of the dwarf or pyramidal fruit-tree in 
the formal garden is very beautiful to me, recall- 
ing some of the earliest of the fine gardens of 
England, and (where the little tree is kept well 
trimmed) offering a rarely interesting medium for 
obtaining balanced effects. 

But the tall plants are not the only available 
means for producing balanced efiects. Lower 
masses of foliage or flowers have their place. 
They must be masses, however, unmistakable 

72 






ms 




HARDY ASTERS IN SEPTEMBER 



BALANCE IN THE GARDEN 

masses. Thus, in the illustration facing page 68, 
each of the large flower masses of baby's breath 
{Gypsophila elegans) — consisting of the bloom of 
but a single well-developed plant — is repeated 
in every instance in four corresponding positions 
in this garden. There was too much gypsophila 
in bloom at once when this picture was made, 
but because some was double the effect was not as 
monotonous as the photograph would make out. 
In a fine garden in Saginaw, Michigan, designed 
and planted by Mr. Charles A. Piatt, balance is 
preserved and emphasized in striking fashion by 
the use of the plantain lily {Fmilda Sieboldii, or 
grandiflora), with its shining yellow-green leaves. 
Masses of this formal plant are here used as an 
effective foreground for a single fine specimen 
bush, not very tall, of Japan snowball (Viburnum 
pUcatum). The poker flower {Tritoma Pfitzeri) is 
also used in this garden to carry the eye from 
point to corresponding point; and speaking of 
tritoma, which Mr. Piatt in this garden associates 
with iris, let me mention again that delightful 
ageratum, as I lately saw it, used below tritoma. 
The tritoma must have been one of the newer 
varieties, of an unusual tone of intense salmony- 
orange, and while the ageratum would seem too 

73 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

insignificant in height to neighbor the tall spike 
above it, the use of the lavender-blue in large 
masses added enormously to the effect of the 
torches. 

In the second illustration, the rather thin-look- 
ing ehns seem to flank the garden entrance rather 
fortunately. A certain pleasurable sensation is 
felt in the balance afforded by the doubly bor- 
dered walk with its blue and lavender Michael- 
mas daisies or hardy asters. It is surely the repe- 
tition of the twos which has something to do with 
this: two borders, two posts, two trees, the eye 
carried twice upward by higher and yet higher 
objects. 



74 



VI 



COLOR HARMONIES IN THE 
SPRING GARDEN 



'O Spring, I know thee ! Seek for sweet surprise 

In the young children's eyes. 
But I have learnt the years, and know the yet 

Leaf-folded violet. 

In these young days you meditate your part; 
I have it all by heart." 

— "In Early Spring," Alice Meynell. 



VI 

COLOR HARMONIES IN THE 
SPRING GARDEN 

TN these words, Spring Flowers, there is very 
-■- music. There is a dehcious harmony in all of 
Nature's colors, and particularly in the colors of 
all native spring flowers, as they appear with 
each other in their own environment. If any one 
doubts what I say, let him look at such pictures 
as are found in Flem well's "Flowers of the Alpine 
Valleys"; let him take up Mrs. Allingham's 
"Happy England"; or let him in May wander 
in the nearest woodlot and see a lovely tapestry 
of pale color woven of the pink of spring beauties, 
the delicate lavenders of hepatica, and the faint 
yellow of the dogtooth violet — thousands of tiny 
blooms crowding each other for space, but all very 
good. 

Perhaps, next to the snowdrop, crocus is the 
earliest of the cultivated bulbs to bloom in our 
wintry region. The matter of color mixtures here 
comes to the fore. I admit this to be a question 

77 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

of personal taste; but it is one on which discus- 
sion should be agreeable and fruitful. It happens 
that I object to a mixture of colors in crocus, or, 
for that matter, in anything. Not long ago a 
well-known landscape gardener, a woman, re- 
marked that a border of mixed Darwin tulips 
was one of the most successful of her many plant- 
ings. In such a hand, I am sure this was so. If 
such planting were done exactly as it should be, 
with sufficient boldness, a sure knowledge of what 
was wanted, and great variety of colors and tones 
of those colors, the result would surely show a 
tapestry again thrown along the earth — a tapes- 
try grander in conception and more glorious in 
kind than the one woven of the tiny blossoms 
mentioned above. But with the average gar- 
dener a mixture, so called, is a thing of danger. 
What more hopeless than a timid one ! "Be bold, 
be bold, but not too bold" — Shakespearian ad- 
vice holds here. 

To return to crocus. Awhile ago, in the bor- 
ders of this small Michigan place of ours, there 
was in one place a most lovely carpet of colonies 
of pale-lavender crocus Maximilian, with grape 
hyacinth {Muscari azureum) running in and out 
in peninsulas, bays, and islands. Tall white crocus 

78 



COLOR HARMONIES 

Heine Blanche, in large numbers, was near by, its 
translucent petals shining in the sun beyond its 
more delicately colored neighbors. 

I believe I have before expatiated in these 
pages on the great beauty of Crocus purpurea^ 
var. grandiflora, carpeting large spaces of bare 
ground beneath shrubbery, principally used in 
connection with great sheets of Scilla Sibirica, 
which blooms so very little later than the crocus 
as to make the two practically simultaneous. 
These, in order to get a telling effect, should be 
planted by the thousands, and this, I beg to as- 
sure the reader, is a less serious financial observa- 
tion than it sounds ! 

Hepatica that year bloomed with 7m reticu- 
lata. As an experiment I arranged the following 
spring some groups of this smart little iris, with 
hepatica plants threading their way among the 
grasslike leaves of the iris, and near by a few 
hundreds of Muscari azureum. The cool, dehcate 
pinks of the hepatica were in most lovely accord 
with the rich violet of the iris, yet affording a 
striking contrast in form and a full octave apart 
in depth and height of tone. Is there a vahd 
objection to thus using imported and native 
plants side by side ? I know Ruskin would have 

79 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

hated it, but the great mid-Victorian man prob- 
ably never had a chance to see the thing well 
done. You recall what he wrote of English flower 
ga rdens : 

"A flower garden is an ugly thing, even when 
best managed; it is an assembly of unfortunate 
beings, pampered and bloated above their nat- 
ural size; stewed and heated into diseased growth; 
corrupted by evil communication into speckled 
and inharmonious colors; torn from the soil which 
they loved, and of which they were the spirit and 
the glory, to glare away their term of tormented 
life among the mixed and incongruous essences 
of each other, in earth that they know not, and 
in air that is poison to them." 

I should like to bring Mr. Ruskin back to life 
again, show him some color achievements in flower 
gardening in England and America to-day, and 
hear him say, "A new order reigneth." 

But back to the crocus ! Where drifts of Cro- 
cus purpurea, var. grandiflora, were blooming under 
leafless Japanese quince, blooming quite by them- 
selves, a fine show of color of the same order was 
had, really only a transition from one key to 
another, by flinging along the ground, planting 
where they fell, heavy bulbs of hyacinth Lord 

SO 




PUSCHKINIA BELOW SHRUBS 




TULIP KAUFMANNIANA IN BORDER 



COLOR HARMONIES 

Derby. The full trusses of this superb flower 
made the most lovely companions for the just- 
about-to-fade crocus. How can I adequately de- 
scribe the color of Lord Derby ! Never, no never, 
in the words of one of the Dutch growers, who 
calmly says, *' Porcelain blue, back heavenly blue." 
May I venture to ask the reader what impression 
these words convey to him? To me they are as 
sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. They mean 
nothing. From my own observation of the hya- 
cinth, I should say that its blue, in the early stages 
of development, has a certain iridescent quahty 
which makes it uncommonly interesting, almost 
dazzling when seen beyond the green of the fresh 
grass of May; and in full bloom it shines out 
with a half-deep tone of purplish blue. Crocus 
purpurea, var. grandifiora, blooms with this hya- 
cinth; the two tones of purple are distinct from 
each other and extremely interesting together. 

Is, or is not, Puschkinia httle known .?^ How 
distinct it is from most of the smaller spring 
things, and how lovely in itself with its tiny bluish- 
white bells, pencilled with another deeper tone of 
blue! And so rewarding, coming up valiantly 
year after year, without encouragement of the 
compost or replanting! A Httle colony of it is 

81 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

here shown (page 80) very badly because rather 
too tightly planted. Puschkinia could be asso- 
ciated with Iris reticulata most beautifully; or its 
slender bluish bells would be delightful growing 
near Tuli'p Kaufmanniana. The bloom of all 
these bulbous things may be quite confidently 
expected at the same time. 

Another illustration shows practically nothing 
but crowds of the fine white crocus Reine Blanche, 
grown as naturally as possible below Pyrus Ja- 
ponica. Here they dwell calmly and seem to 
sleep year after year, except for the time when 
they show their shining faces to the sun of April. 
The most dreaded enemy of the crocus, to my mind, 
is a wet snow. The petals, once soaked and 
weighted, never recover their beautiful texture, 
and when, one fatal April, as my note-book shows, 
our hectic climate brought in one hour upon these 
charming but tender flowers rain, hail, and snow, 
the wreckage may be left to the imagination of 
the tender-hearted. 

Nothing, to my thinking, can exceed for beauty 
the picture made by the majestic Tulipa Vitellinay 
with its beautifully held cups of palest lemon 
color, when supported by the lavender trusses of 
Phlox divaricata — and the stems of that, in turn, 

82 



COLOR HARMONIES 

almost hidden by the fine Phlox subulata, var. 
lilacina. Long reaches of these three flowers hap- 
pily planted, or a tiny corner against shrubbery 
— it matters not one whit which — "and then 
my heart with pleasure fills !" What a wonderful 
thing to see below the glowing buds and blossoms 
of the Japanese quince clusters of tulip La Mer- 
veille or — but not and — tulip Couleur Cardinal. 
La Merveille, with its tremendously telling orange- 
red hues, puts dash into the picture; Couleur Car- 
dinal, sombreness, richness. No one could think 
for one moment of allowing these tulips to appear 
near each other. Crocus and early-flowering 
things below and among the shrubs, to bloom 
when the quince is leafless; tulips toward the 
grass, to show when tiny points of green and the 
red quince blossoms make a fiery mist above them. 
The lucky householder or gardener who has 
sometime placed a group of the glorious shrub, 
Mahonia, on his ground, may like a planting 
which has seemed good to me against the shining 
dark-green of its low branches. Narcissus poetaz, 
var. Elvira, to bloom with the lavender hyacinth 
Lord Derby or Holbein; with the gay tulip Ver- 
milion Brilliant near by, and some groups or col- 
onies of tulip Couleur Cardinal associated with 

83 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

these. The fine Darwin tuHp Fanny, used with 
masses of Phlox divaricata and Phlox suhulata, 
var. lilacina, below it, is a marvel of color. Mr. 
Hunt's description of Fanny I give: "Clear, rosy 
pink, with white centre marked blue. Not a 
large flower but one of exquisite color and form." 
I have never yet made a May pilgrimage to Mont- 
clair, but I know I should be a wiser gardener if 
I might, for Mr. Hunt's blooming tulips must be 
worth many a league's journey. 

Nothing I have ever had upon our small place 
has given me more spring pleasure than the plant- 
ing which I next describe. A shrub, two tulips, 
and a primula. The shrub was Spircea Thun- 
hergii, with its delicate white sprays of flowers. 
Below and among these spireas are the great tulip 
La Merveille, orange-scarlet, and the old double 
Count of Leicester, in tawny-orange shades — 
and before the tulips lay low masses of the Mun- 
stead primrose. On this primrose, which fares so 
well with me, I have enlarged so often and so vol- 
ubly that I fear the reader is weary of my praises. 
But to me it is an essential of the spring. With 
this primrose, with the hardy forget-me-nots, and 
arabis, the lemon-colored alyssum, the lavender 
creeping phloxes, and with a charming low-grow- 

84 



COLOR HAUMONIKS 

ing thing wliose name is Lamium maculatum (the 
gray-green leaves have a rather vague whitish 
marking upon tliem, and the flowers are of a 
soft mauve — grow tulip WouvcTinan haek of 
these, I beg !) — the most dehghtful elfeets may 
be had. 

As for tuhps, again, the lovehest of combina- 
tions under lilacs, or immediately before them, 
would surely ensue if groups of tuhps Fanny, Carl 
Becker, Giant, and Konigin Emma were planted 
in such spots. And speaking of tulips — the ones 
just mentioned I got of the Dutch, the originators 
of the Darwin and Rembrandt tulips and who 
thereby have made all bulb-growers their eternal 
debtors. The photograph of tulips which accom- 
panies these notes shows how exhibition beds may 
be made beautiful — it is a picture of the Haarlem 
(Holland) Jubilee Show in the spring of 1910. 

In the illustration, page 86, the blackish group 
of tulips in the right-hand middle distance is La 
Tulipe Noire — "the blackest of all the tulips." 
The circular group in the centre distance is Ed- 
mee, a bright cherry-rose color, also Darwin; and 
at the extreme left L'Ingenue, a fine white Dar- 
win, slightly suffused with pale rose. 

Mr. Krelage gave last autumn to one of his 

85 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

English friends a list of the Darwin tulips he 
considers the best. These are the ones: Clara 
Butt, salmon-pink; Crepuscule, pinky lilac; Faust, 
deep violet; Giant, deep purplish-crimson; La 
Candeur, ivory-white; La Tristesse, slaty blue; 
Madame Krelage, rosy pink; Margaret, soft pink, 
almost blush; Mr. Farncombe Sanders, rosy 
crimson; Prince of the Netherlands, cerise-car- 
mine; Raphael, purplish violet; and Haarlem, a 
giant salmony orange-red. Five of these I have 
grown. The man to whom this list was given, a 
distinguished judge of flowers, comments on the 
evident partiality of Mr. Krelage for the rich 
deep-purples, as shown by these choices of his 
own. 

Last spring Miss Jekyll wrote of her pleasure 
in some beautiful varieties of tulips, Darwins and 
Cottage both, sent her as cut blooms by a well- 
known grower. And I was so charmed with her 
description of these, especially with what she said 
of the purple and bronze tones of some of them, 
that I cleared out a lot of shrubbery to make room, 
and planted last fall the following groups: Ew- 
bank and Morales together, Faust, Grand Mo- 
narque. Purple Perfection, and D. T. Fish; Bronze 
King, Bronze Queen, Golden Bronze, Dom Pedro, 

86 




CROCUS MONT BLANC 




DARWIN TULIPS AT THE HAARLEM (hOLLAND) JUBILEE SHOW, 1910 



COLOR HARMONIES 

Louis XIV; Salmon Prince, Orange King, Pan- 
orama, Orange Globe, and La Merveille. 

I am not a collector; but how readily, save for 
one reason, could I become one, in ten different 
directions in the world of flowers ! Tulips should 
be one of my choices; the narcissus another; no one 
could pass by the iris. The collecting of tulips is, 
I fancy, simple beside, say, that of daffodils. 
The varieties of the daffodil are so many, the 
classes not as yet quite clearly defined; while the 
tulip is simphcity itself, except when it comes to 
tulip species — there the botanist comes to the 
front and no unlearned ones need apply. Tulips 
are unfaihng, certain to appear. No coaxing is 
necessary, nor do they require special positions. 
They may, for instance, grow among peonies; 
they are dehghtful among grapes. While the 
narcissus may not flourish among peonies, because 
of the amount of manure needed by the latter, 
tuhps come gloriously forth. The question was 
put to me some time since by Doctor Miller as to 
the probability of injury to or failure of narcissus 
when planted among peonies, on account of the 
amount of manure generally used among such 
roots — the statement made originally, I believe, by 
some Enghsh writer. May I give here the opin- 

87 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

ion of an English antliority on daffodils in his 
o^yn words ? 

*'As to daffodils among peonies — well, if yon 
don't get mannre (new) among their roots, and 
only top-dress with farmyard or stable mannre, 
nsing bonemeal nndergronnd, I think many daf- 
fodils wonld do very well; but you should try 
them from more places than one when you buy. 
Like humans and others, a rich diet coming on 
top of a long-drawn-out poor one upsets matters." 

Crocus-collecting, judging from what Mr. E. 
Augustus Bowles writes of it, must have charms 
indeed. I confess to the germ of the fever in the 
shape of several of Mr. Bowles's delightfully read- 
able articles safely put away in a letter-file. Each 
time I take these out to reread them, I grow a 
little weaker; and by next July when fresh lists 
of crocus species lay their fatal hand upon me, I 
expect to be a crocus-bed-ridden invalid indeed ! 



88 



VII 



THE CROCUS AND OTHER 
EARLY BULBS 



'The groundflame of the crocus breaks the mould. 
Fair Spring slides hither o'er the Southern sea." 

— Tentstson. 



VII 

THE CROCUS AND OTHER 
EARLY BULBS 

TET me begin by presenting these "rumina- 
•*-' tions," as he calls them, from the pen of the 
Reverend Joseph Jacob, of England, whose name 
is known wherever two or three daffodils or as 
many tulips are gathered together. "Was there 
ever a time," writes he, "when bulbs were not pop- 
ular? Probably not. At all events, there is not 
much doubt about it at the present time. Every 
horticultural firm which considers itself at all 
*up' in the world considers one of its annual 
necessities the issuing of a bulb-list. Contrari- 
wise, the reception and perusal of these lists are 
among the perennial pleasures of every one who 
has a garden. Bulbs are wonderfully accommo- 
dating things. I have a tortoise which we call 
Timmie, and for the last three months he has 
been fast asleep under some nice dry leaves in the 
cellar. Just now, with a little careful packing, 
he could very easily undertake a long journey. 

91 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

*' Bulbous plants are the 'Timmies' of the vege- 
table kingdom. When they have retired into 
their shells, they can be sent about so readily and 
so safely that if they lived to about ten times 
the age of Methuselah, I should not be surprised 
to find that, if it is really true what botanists 
tell about dispersion and propagation being the 
two things that plants worry themselves most 
about, then all well-brought-up plantlets would 
be taught, just as we teach the 'three R's' to-day, 
how to take on a bulbous state as an essential 
part of their life cycle." 

With Mr. Jacob's whimsical wish I heartily 
agree, more particularly as I recall the few choice 
aubrietas by post from Ireland, the glories in 
delphinium from England in the same manner, all 
of which, when opened, were found to be exhausted 
by their journey. 

Now, before rushing toward — before leaping 
to our main flower, the crocus, may I pay a word 
of tribute to the tribe of muscari, the grape hya- 
cinth.^ While these small bits of perfection in 
flowers, in blue flowers — yes, a true blue in some 
forms — are wonderful in color, they must, in my 
experience, be packed closely together in planting 
for any really good effect. While several flowers 

92 



EARLY BULBS 

come from each crocus bulb set in earth, from 
Muscari azureum, the small and early sky-blue, 
I usually have but two, and the tiny things 
seem not to spread, to multiply, as the crocus 
does. 

Of the other grape hyacinths, a delightful color 
picture is seen each May on either side of my 
little brick walk. The late muscari Heavenly 
Blue clusters below the pale-yellow lily-like 
heads of Tulipa retrqflexa, and below the grape 
hyacinth (whose strong dark-blue has a metallic 
quality) quantities of fine myosotis plants are 
blooming at the same moment. 

The earliest muscari are true crocus companions 
— azureum in dense companies, with crocus Mont 
Blanc (cut facing page 86) — or with such a lav- 
ender as Madame Mina a most unusual color 
combination may be made. 

Since the spring of 1912 I have felt that I 
must take up my pen for the crocus, to introduce 
it in a few of its newer and less-known varieties 
to those who have never grown those at all. 

The desire to get "something for nothing" is 
quite as noticeable among the guild of amateur 
gardeners as among those who find joy in bar- 
gain sales. And in the crocus we have first of all 

93 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

a bargain. Thousands for a few dollars, hundreds 
for some cents. Next in cheapness to seeds they 
are; and have a habit, when not bothered by a 
nervous or too transplanting owner, of multiply- 
ing in a fashion comforting to see. In the nine 
years in which I have been growing the crocus on 
our small piece of ground, I cannot now remember 
having lost any except in cases where the growth 
of overhanging or overhungry shrubbery has eaten 
up the little things at its feet. 

One of my first plantings before the bare east 
wall of brick of a then new house was of the cro- 
cus Reine Blanche, a fine white, in groups now 
dense, now more open, with hosts of Scilla Sibi- 
rica crowding among them, and that first glory of 
the tulip family, Kaufmanniana, holding outspread 
back of and above the little blue-and-white multi- 
tude its lilylike flowers — flowers which only open 
to the sun. Tulipa Kaufmanniana is costly, I 
admit, and growing more so, but, as in the case 
of Darwin and May-flowering tulips, many of 
which are rapidly increasing in value, delays are 
dangerous. Therefore, buy now if possible. I 
must have often described it before — its general 
color within the flower a rich cream, running into 
clear yellow toward the centre of the bloom; on 

94 



EARLY BULBS 

the outside of each petal a broad band of dull 
reddish-rose. To myself I called it a water-lily 
long before I read that it had been often described 
as the water-lily tulip. In warm corners it has 
opened with me (latitude of Boston) as early as 
March 25, though its usual flowering time in our 
climate is mid-April. 

Among the florists' varieties of crocus, the one 
with true magnificence of form and color is Crocus 
purpureuSy var. grandiflorus. Magnificent is a 
large adjective to apply to a low-growing flower; 
ordinarily one should reserve it for the altheas, 
or the finer gladioli, sensational in their beauty. 
But it is a fact that people unaccustomed to the 
sight of so large and fine a crocus as this can 
sometimes not be persuaded that it is a crocus; 
therefore, the word may be permitted. And when 
close-growing numbers of this particular beauty 
are near other close colonies of Scilla Sibirica, 
there is then a spring effect worth going far to 
see. Maximilian, a clear light-lavender, is a fa- 
vorite with me. Madame Mina, white with rich 
lavender stripes the length of its fine petals, is a 
beauteous flower; and Reine Blanche, of which 
mention has just been made, one of the loveliest 
imaginable whites. Mont Blanc, white, is also 

95 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

very fine. In these whites, and in Madame Mina 
as well, the rich orange stigma gives a very glow- 
ing effect as one looks down into the crocus cup. 
As for the yellow crocuses, I never look at them if 
I can help it ! I have a few remnants of them 
from misguided purchases of years gone by, but 
I am always meaning to clear them out and al- 
ways forgetting to do it till their small squat 
flowers are gone and the track of the position of 
the bulbs is lost. This antipathy to the yellow 
florists' crocus, which, let me add, does not extend 
in my case to the yellow of the species crocus, 
may be the prejudice of ignorance, for of varieties 
other than Cloth of Gold and Large Yellow I 
know nothing. In these the yellow is the crude 
yellow of the dandelion (a flower I hate with all 
my might) ! Mr. E. A. Bowles, of Waltham 
Cross, England, tells us that the more delicate 
and subtle tones of yellow are to be found in sev- 
eral varieties of crocus species; it is to these that 
I plan to turn my attention with great ardor 
another season. 

Few of these species crocus do I already know 
in my own borders — only half a dozen — and 
as I believe readers will rejoice as I have done 
in some of Mr. Bowles's enthusiastic comments 

96 



EARLY BULBS 

on or descriptions of these jflowers, I offer no apol- 
ogy for quoting from him, as I mention the flowers 
of which he knows so much, through years of col- 
lecting, growing, and study. 

Now, in spite of my aversion to the large yel- 
low florists' crocus, I do like Crocus susianus, 
which is one of the bright-yellows before mentioned 
(Color chart, Cadmium yellow. No. 1). But Crocus 
susianus y blooming as early as April 9, planted 
very thickly, gave in my border the interesting 
impression of a large-flowering yellow Phlox suhu- 
lata — practically no green leaf visible below the 
masses of bloom. Five to seven flowers appear 
in small, tight bunches from one bulb; and back 
of and among this flowering mass of yellow I had 
colonies of the white crocus Mont Blanc. Let 
me commend this very simple and unstudied ar- 
rangement. C. susianus is much dwarfer than 
Mont Blanc, therefore have it mainly to the 
front. 

Crocus Sieberi I call a warm pinkish-lavender 
(Color chart, Violet mauve. No. 1). Six to eight 
flowers come from a bulb, and the bright-orange 
stigmata within give a glowing centre to the little 
flower. This is very small and low. Mr. Bowles 
calls it a "crocus for every garden" and adds that 

97 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

it "seeds freely and soon spreads in any sunny 
border." 

''Crocus Korolkowi,'' to quote Mr. Bowles 
again, "from the far East, has two good points 
— it flowers early and is of a peculiarly brilliant 
form of yellow." This little crocus I have grown 
for a few years myself, and it always surprises 
me by appearing practically with the snowdrop. 

Crocus hijlorus, the "Scotch crocus," is white, 
with pencillings of grayish mauve on its three 
outer petals. The markings are exquisite and the 
early blooming of this crocus marks it as a specially 
necessary one. 

My prime favorite among all these species cro- 
cus is Crocus Tommasinianus. It is tall, slender, 
delicate, with narrow, pointed petals, of a lovely 
lavender, slightly bluer than Sieberi. An orange 
pistil within it is like a vivid star. It has great 
height of stem, and tapering form of flower. It 
is the one which most delights me as a novice in 
crocus-collecting; and last spring, in a limited 
space where the ground runs up into a rather 
steepish slope for a few feet, which slope is cov- 
ered by a thick group of the little tree known as 
the garland thorn, there beneath the small tree 
stems I hope to see next spring hundreds of little 

98 



EARLY BULBS 

candles, lavender candles of Crocus Tommasini- 
anus running up the tiny hillside, and racing along 
beside them a company of Galanthus Elwesii, their 
companions in time of bloom. "I have found," 
writes Mr. Bowles, "C. Tommasinianus so far to 
prove the most satisfactory of the wild species 
for spreading and holding its own when planted 
in grass." 

Several beautiful new seedling crocuses have 
come within a few years from Holland — May 
and Dorothea — the latter a "soft, pale lavender- 
mauve," May "a beautiful white of fine form." 
These two I have; not, however, Kathleen Par- 
low, said to be an extra-fine white, with wonder- 
ful orange anthers, nor Distinction, the nearest 
approach to a pink color in crocus. 

The beauty of tulip Kaufmanmana was never, 
I fancy, better set forth in a photograph than in 
that which is shown on page 98. To the kind- 
ness of Mr. Bowles himself I owe this picture of 
perfect spring loveliness, and to the kindness of 
the distinguished Scottish amateur Mr. S. Arnott 
the picture of the blue grape hyacinth, Hyacinthus 
lineatus azureus. This was made in Mr. Arnott's 
garden in February, 1912, and is, I beHeve, a 
rare variety. 

99 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

To my eyes it is so charming a picture of the 
type that its inclusion here will surely give pleasure 
to those to whom these "small and early" things 
are objects of interest. 



100 



VIII 

COLOR ARRANGEMENTS FOR DARWIN 
TULIPS AND OTHER SPRING-FLOWER- 
ING BULBS 



'Along the lawns the tulip lamps are lit." 

— R0S.UIUND M.iKRiOTT Watson. 



VIII 

COLOR ARRANGEMENTS FOR DARWIN 
TULIPS AND OTHER SPRING-FLOWER- 
ING BULBS 

T BELIEVE I shall always remember this May 
-*- as the Darwinian May. As the mention of 
this adjective is doubtless music to the ear of 
the scientist, so its sound is equally delectable to 
the possessor and lover of the Darwin tulips. In 
a bit of writing appearing some time ago in this 
journal, I set down a hst of Darwins arranged 
for color combination, taken from a fine English 
source. These I tried for the first time this year; 
and I assure the reader when I saw them I fell 
down and worshipped. A pageant of color, a 
marvellous procession of flowery grandeur — no 
words are mine in which to tell of my sensations 
on seeing this beauty for the first time; and the 
sensations were not mine alone. They were 
shared by all those who saw them, among them 
some sophisticated eyes, eyes which might not 
show delight without good cause. 

103 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

The color arrangement proved not so good as 
I had hoped. And, thanks to an ingenious guest, 
we rearranged for next year in this fashion: One 
tuHp of each variety was cut and labelled with a 
slip of paper. These cut tulips were then placed 
in the open spaces of the rattan or cane seat of 
a Chinese chair, the large flowers resting against 
the back and sides of the chair. The round open- 
ings in the woven cane exactly admitted the stiff 
stems of the Darwins; the background of basket- 
looking stuff was most becoming to the gay 
flowers, and at our leisure, seated in comfort be- 
fore our tulip galaxy, we arranged and rearranged 
till the following plan evolved itself — a plan of 
which I append a rather feebly drawn chart — a 
plan, however, which I recommend with my whole 
heart, a Darwinian theory less abstruse if not more 
certain in its outcome than that of him in whose 
honor these noble spring flowers are named. 

Another probably successful arrangement of 
spring flowers suggests itself. Why should not 
the tall lemon-colored blooms of Tulipa VitelUna 
show back of rather close groupings of Scilla cam- 
panulata's lavender bells, while the tender yellow 
of Alyssum saxatile, var. sulphur eum, creates a 
charming foreground .^^ The three flowers bloomed 

104 




TULIP VITELLINA, PHLOX DIVARICATA 




TULIP GESNERIANA ELEGANS LUTEA PALLIDA ABOVE PHLOX 
DIVARICATA LAPHAMI 



COLOR ARRANGEMENTS 

With me this year at the same time, and I cannot 
but advise a trial planting of them together — 
say a dozen of the tulips, fifty scillas, and six or 
seven roots of the beautiful hardy alyssum, and 
you have a picture which a true "garden soul" 
will feel beneath the ground in winter. This could 
be done in a spot apart, a bit of ground sacred to 
adventures in flowers. 

And while we are on adventures in flowers, 
may I impart a few impressions of some tulips 
seen this spring for the first time ? Really revela- 
tions — some of them unspeakably beautiful. 
Coming, for instance, unexpectedly upon Tulipa 
viridiflora was like coming upon a specially beau- 
tiful green-and-white trillium in a wood. This 
tulip has that precious look of not having been 
evolved. Yet it is a May-flowering or cottage 
tulip. What pleasure in a few bulbs of this 
unique flower, in its aspect of untouchedness ! 
It cannot be possible, one thinks, that the deli- 
cate bands of green up and down its palest yel- 
low-painted petals were not set there by the skil- 
ful eye and brush of perhaps the Japanese ! 

Tulip The Fawn, a Darwin this, was almost un- 
believable in its beauty. No description of it in 
print satisfies me. May I here give my own.^ 

105 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

Pale amber to cream-color outside, suffused with 
soft pinkish lavender, the whole effect that of a 
tea-rose. Why not give it a subtitle — the tea-rose 
tulip ? And why not grow it with that deep, rich 
purple Darwin Faust? The contrast between 
these two is tremendously striking, yet there is a 
certain harmony of tone which allows of their 
dwelling together not only in peace but in beauty. 

Gudin, a tall tulip of a pale-mauve hue, look- 
ing its best near a group of the stately Innocence, 
was another of the wonders of the spring. Or- 
pheus was a charming flower turning to warm rose 
in its last days; Emerald Gem, oddly named when 
its richest of salmon blooms are considered, with 
Orange Globe should form a combination of bril- 
liant color unsurpassed; and in Dom Pedro we 
have a Breeder tulip, a flower of wonderful ma- 
hogany tones which I should ever choose to see 
associated with Coridion, lovely "clear yellow 
with stripe of lilac through centre of petal." 

About June 3 comes Lviolirion macrantha, like 
a small lavender lily, with delicate tubular flowers, 
as manj^ as a dozen up and down the graceful 
waving stem. The leafage of this flower is scanty; 
what there is, is of a grayish-green which makes 
the flower a fit companion for the dusty miller 

106 



COLOR ARRANGEMENTS 

(Senecio cineraria). The ixlolirion is one of the 
bravest of bulbs, coming triumphantly through 
the bitter frosts of last winter. Ixiolirion pallasi 
is named as a good one, and this I hope to try. 
The lasting quality of ixiolirion in water is one 
of its recommendations ; and because it is so very 
perfect when cut, if used with sprays of Deutzia 
Lemoineii — for daytime use on the table, that 
is, for I have yet to find the blue that can prop- 
erly be used under artificial light — I hope to let 
a quantity of these beautiful waving things blow 
near and before the low bushes of the deutzia 
next spring. These will follow the tiny Italian 
Tulipa clusiana, whose slender beauty grows 
dearer every year. Clusiana is neighbored by 
Puschkinia and the two are preceded by some 
species of crocus — the Scotch, I think, var. C. 
biflorus pusillus. 

So we achieve an uncommon spring planting, 
delicate and lovely for weeks from the end of 
April to the first of June, always interesting 
whether the small flowers are coming or going — 
and if planted with judgment and discrimination 
as to natural-looking arrangement, regard to 
height and color, we may without fear of disap- 
pointment think in December of the rare joys in 

107 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

store for us in that spot when it shall have been 
touched by the suns of spring. 

A charming happening has just taken place in 
the borders. The bush honeysuckles of Michigan 
were never more gloriously covered with their veils 
of white and rose than this spring. It may have 
been the gradually warming season, the uninter- 
rupted progress from leaf -bud to blossom; in any 
case, the tale is the same all about us — the loni- 
eeras have been remarkably fine. Below a tower- 
ing group of Lonicera, var. hella alhida, whose 
flowers in early June are just passing, crowds of 
the swaying long-spurred hybrid aquilegias bloom 
and blow. Most of us now know the unusual deli- 
cacy and range of color in these charming flowers 
— faint pinks, yellows, blues, and lavenders — 
all pale and poised as they are. 

But oh ! to catch beyond, under the shadow of 
the honeysuckle boughs, as I did but now, the 
sight of masses of blooming pink scillas, Scilla 
campanulata, var. rosea, at precisely the moment 
and in precisely the place where its modest beauty 
was most perfectly displayed — to have this as a 
surprise, not a special plan — here was a pleasure 
of a quality all too seldom felt and known. Noth- 
ing could carry on and repeat the tones of the pink 

108 



COLOR ARRANGEMENTS 

and lavender aquilegias as does this loveliest of 
late scillas. In appearance more like a tall lily- 
of-the-valley than any other flower I can call to 
mind, in tone so cool a pink that it is perfect in 
combination with the blue, lavender, or pink col- 
umbines. It is enchanting as their neighbor and 
far more interesting thus used than in the more 
commonplace proximity to its cousin or sister, 
the lavender Scilla campanulata, var. excelsior, 
blooming at the same time. To me it would be 
dull to see sheets of these two spring flowers near 
each other or intermingling. Dull, I mean, com- 
pared with such a possibility as the combination 
I have tried to describe and which was simply 
one of those heavenly accidents befalling all too 
rarely the ardent gardener. 

On this June day the buds in my garden are 
almost as enchanting as the open flowers. Things 
in bud bring, in the heat of a June noontide, the 
recollection of the loveliest days of the year — 
those days of May when all is suggested, nothing 
yet fulfilled. To-day I have been looking at 
something one of these photographs feebly tries 
to show — tall spikes of pale-pink Canterbury 
bells, the flowers unusually large, standing against 
a softly rounding background of gypsophila in 

109 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

bud; to the left of the campanulas, leaves of Iris 
pallida, var. Dahnatica, so tall that their presence 
is immediately felt; a little before, but still to 
the left of the pink spikes and the iris, perhaps 
a dozen tall silvery velvet stems of Stachys lanata, 
whose tiny flowers give but a hint of their pale 
lavender as yet, and are lost in the whiteness of 
the young leaflets, and — and this is the thing 
which really creates the picture — three or four 
spreading branches, a foot from the ground and 
directly below the campanulas, of Statice incana 
Silver Cloud, tiny points of white showing that 
the whole dense spray will soon be full of flowers. 
Below and among the campanulas (which I 
keep in bloom a very long time by a careful daily 
taking off of every shrivelling bloom) stand sal- 
mon-pink balsams, these to replace with their two- 
foot masses of flowers the campanulas when the 
latter's day is over and to rise above the gray- 
white leaves of the stachys when its blooming 
time is also past. This stachys is a lovely ad- 
junct to the garden. The texture of its leaves is 
a matter of surprise to every one who touches 
them. Most people would call stachys "woolly," 
but I do not like this word — (is it because I live 
in the West ?) — and why apply an unpoetic 

110 





PINK CANTERBURY BELLS, STACHYS LANATA 




■'-*« . 






r. «-::«. ( 'i.^i 






fi 




from " rA« Garden Month by Month." By courtesy of Frederick A. Stokes Company 
BELLIS PERENNIS AND NARCISSUS POETICUS 



COLOR ARRANGEMENTS 

word to any one of the lovely inhabitants of our 
gardens ? 

It came about that a space before the bush 
honeysuckles — the pink flowering variety, Loni- 
cera Tatarica, var. rosea — in a border, needed fill- 
ing with lower shrubs. The piece of ground to 
be furnished was perhaps fifteen feet long by three 
wide, though irregular in both width and outline. 
Last autumn Rosa nitida had been there set out, 
planted about three feet apart. Bare ground for 
this year and next was sure to spoil the look of 
things while these roses were yet young, and a 
covering for it was thus managed. Canterbury- 
bell plants were distributed in small groups among 
the roses, especially toward the back of the border; 
and English irises, Rossini and Mr. Veen, were 
tucked in in longish colonies before and among 
the campanulas. In ordinary seasons these irises 
might not have bloomed with the campanulas, 
but this year it was Monte Cristo-like — the 
flower and the hour ! — with a resultant superb 
effect of color. Mr. Veen, a true violet iris, Ros- 
sini, a purplish-blue, were good together to me, who 
differ from Miss Jekyll in possessing a penchant 
for blue combined with purple or with lavender. 
To compare a bloom of one of these irises with 

111 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

a spray of the Dropmore anchusa is to get an ex- 
tremely vivid and interesting idea of the effect 
of colors upon each other. Taken alone, Iris 
xiphioides, var. Mr. Veen, is a blue without very 
much purple in its tone; beside the anchusa all 
the blue vanishes — the iris is a distinct purple; 
place it beside Rossini, it becomes blue again; and 
grow masses of Rossini below the anchusa, es- 
pecially the variety Opal, and there is one of the 
most beautiful juxtapositions possible in flowers 
— so far as I know an original combination of 
color and one to charm an artist, I believe. An- 
chusa of a year's standing, a three-foot anchusa, 
might be best to use in this way. The two-foot 
iris would prove a good companion. 

There follows, soon after the gray-and-pink com- 
bination in my garden of which I spoke a few 
paragraphs back, the combination of pink Cam- 
panula medium and Stachys lanata, a time when 
one of the loveliest of all double poppies lights up 
the little place with color. For this poppy — an 
annual — there is no registered name. It is dou- 
ble, extremely full, perhaps three feet in height, and 
of a delicious rosy-pink, exactly the pink of the 
best mallows, or of the enchanting half -open rose- 
buds of the ever-lovely rambler Lady Gay. To 

112 



COLOR ARRANGEMENTS 

see three or four of these poppies in full bloom 
among the white mist of gypsophila, either single 
or double, the oat-green of the poppy leaves 
below, is to see something more delicately beauti- 
ful than often occurs in gardens. Many packets 
of the seed of my poppy are always in readiness, 
as I have a superabundance of the same; and if 
ten people read these words, and if, peradven- 
ture, there be ten gardeners with vision to see 
through the veil of these sentences the rose-pink 
beauty of this flower, let them ask for a bit of 
this seed, for it is theirs for the asking ! 

The love of flowers brings surely with it the 
love of all the green world. For love of flowers 
every blooming square in cottage gardens seen 
from the flying windows of the train has its true 
and touching message for the traveller; every 
bush and tree in nearer field and farther wood 
becomes an object of delight and stirs dehghtful 
thought. When I see a rhubarb plant in a small 
rural garden, I respect the man, or more generally 
the woman, who placed it there. If my eye hghts 
upon the carefully tended peony held up by a bar- 
rel hoop, the round group of an old dicentra, the 
fine upstanding single plant of iris, at once I ex- 
perience the warmest feehng of friendliness for 

113 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

that householder, and wish to know and talk with 
them about their flowers. For at the bottom 
there is a bond which breaks down every other 
difference between us. We are "Garden Souls." 



114 



IX 



NOTES ON SPRING FLOWERS 



'April appeared, the green earth's impulse came 
Pushing the singing sap until each bud 
Trembled with delicate life as soft as flame. 
Filled with the mighty heart-beat as with blood." 



IX 

NOTES ON SPRING FLOWERS 

AN ever-astonishing thing to me in gardening is 
^ ^ the overlapping of the times of bloom in 
flowers. As I walk about in May I am sure to 
see some inhabitant of the borders up and doing, 
earlier than I think he should be. One is ab- 
sorbed in what is already open; the budding of 
coming flowers goes unnoticed and their little soft, 
colorful cries for attention come as a surprise. 

Under an ancient thorn, known to Professor 
Sargent and a few others as Cratoegus 'punctata — 
a thorn which stands against old apple-trees, and 
which, as soon as the petals of apple-blossoms have 
fallen and disappeared, becomes a wreath of white 
against the apple-leaves — under this blooming 
thorn there stands in a bold group the fine late 
tulip, Flava. This tulip has a way of fading in 
curious and beautiful fashion. In its first stage 
it is one of the grandest and most imposing of 
early flowers; its bloom is held high in air; its 
stem is absolutely erect; its color a soft straw- 

117 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

yellow; its leaves very low, large, and of a fine 
bluish-green; the blooms open wide, their four 
petals at the top of the stalk, like lilies held erect, 
and the inside of each petal seems to take on a 
certain pallor toward the centre, leaving an edge 
of deeper tone. The effect is indescribably beau- 
tiful in its way — a tulip swan-song, thought I, as 
I gazed. 

A fine tulip new to me last spring was Nau- 
ticas. Here the color within the petals is Vin de 
Bordeaux No. 1, shading toward the upper edges 
to Rose Hlace No. 2.* The inner basal spots of 
Nauticas are of Indigo grisatre No. 1, very strik- 
ing in effect; and the leaves of this tall tulip were 
of so rarely good a green that even their color was 
recorded. It proved to be a trifle darker than 
Vert bouteille No. 4. If any reader wonders at 
my enthusiasm for this tulip, a flower incompara- 
ble as it seems to me, let him place next each other 
the color plates here mentioned, imagine a finely 
rising stem and large broad leaves, of the richest 
of greens, crowned by a rose-purple flower of per- 
fect form. He will wonder no more that the tuHp 
is thus commended. 

* Color references apply either to the French color chart " Repertoire de 
Couleurs," or to " Color Standards and Color Nomenclature," by Dr. 
Robert Ridgway. 

118 



SPRING FLOWERS 

Of Zomerschoon the rare, the beautiful, I own 
but a dozen bulbs. A detailed description from 
the color chart is necessary, as this wonder among 
tulips has many colors. The upper outside of 
inner petals shows Rouge d'Andrinople No. 1, but 
a trifle lighter than the shade in the plate. There 
is remarkable life in this color as it appears in 
the tulip. Flamed and feathered with a true 
cream-white, with a slightly bluish sheen on the 
centres of the outer petals, the flower is of inde- 
scribable beauty. There is not one to equal it 
for charm, for luscious combination of salmon 
and cream. It is never likely to become plentiful, 
it is such a slow one to increase. 

Although we hear rumors of a possible short- 
age for next season in tulips in violet, lavender, 
and bronze tones, it is quite out of the question 
in these notes to pass by one of these beauties. 
Mauve Clair, a Darwin variety of unusual quahty, 
is one of the best. The general tone of this tulip 
is Violet de Parme No. 1, while the flame or mark- 
ing of the outer petals is of Violet d'aconit No. 1. 
Tulip Bouton d'Or, whose yellow as seen in the 
French chart is Jaune cadmium No. 1, has a per- 
fectly unvarying tone throughout the flower. 
Thus I found several of these tulips; yet again, 

119 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

with other blooms of Bouton d'Or, Jaune chrome 
moyen No. 1, petals edged with No. 3 of the same 
color, seemed a more perfect description. I give 
the two for accuracy's sake. The black anthers 
of Bouton d'Or add appreciably to its interest. 

A tulip of far paler yellow than Bouton d'Or 
is Moonlight, another cottage tulip, so elegant, 
so distinguished, as to relegate Bouton d'Or at 
once to a sort of tulip bourgeoisie. Moonlight is 
beautifully named, with its pale tones of yellow 
and charmingly proportioned flower. The gen- 
eral tone of Moonlight in the chart is Jaune citron 
No. 1 or Jaune primavere No. 1 ; within its petals 
Jaune soufre No. 4 prevails. 

While among the yellow tulips, Sprengeri, the 
latest of all tulips to bloom, must not be over- 
looked. Tulipa Sprengeri, to be sure, is not yel- 
low; it is an orange-scarlet and thereby related 
to the yellows (Orange de Mars No. 2, edges of 
inner petals Orange rougeatre No. 1).' The out- 
side of each outer petal is flamed through the 
centre with Rouge cuivre. This tulip I have 
growing among close-packed roots of a pearl-gray 
German iris, name unknown. The two come into 
flower simultaneously; the tulip is quite as tall 
as the iris, and the two flowers are strikingly 

120 



SPRING FLOWERS 

good together. Sprengeri grows taller with me 
than any other tulip, Louis XIV alone excepted. 
It is a persistent grower, too, appearing year 
after year as do almost no others except Tulipa 
Gesneriana, var. rosea, that gay and resolute little 
bloom always so enchanting above forget-me- 
nots. 

Near Philadelphia last spring a marvellously 
lovely combination of tulips and iris was to be 
seen. A long, narrow bed had been made in the 
centre of a similarly long and narrow piece of 
sward. This straight line was a glowing band of 
German iris of the richest purple-blue, and of a 
brilliant yellow tulip set in tall and ordered 
groups alternating in effective fashion with the 
iris. Of the tulips there seemed to be fifteen or 
twenty in a group, and the variety, I thought, was 
Mrs. Moon. The name of the iris is wanting; 
but it was the counterpart of one of my own 
which I owe to the kindness of a farmer's wife, 
and whose colors, according to the chart, are Bleu 
d'aniline No. 4 in the standards and Violet de 
violette in the falls. 

A further suggestion for iris-and-tulip grouping 
(this from an English source) is a bold use of the 
deep purple-blue iris thinly interspersed with the 

121 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

lavender Darwin tulip Reverend H. Ewbank. In 
my own part of the country it is rarely that the 
Darwin or May-flowering tulip overlaps in time 
of bloom upon the German iris, but in the lati- 
tude of Philadelphia these plants may be expected 
to give flowers together. 

A group of Darwins in brilliant cherry-rose 
tones we may notice next. These gay occupants 
of the spring border hold less charm for me than 
some of their less flaunting fellows, the reason 
being the difficulty of combining them well with 
tulips of other colors. True, they may serve as 
a climax where first lavender, then deep-violet 
tulips are used in successive groupings. But with 
white tulips, dead-white, they are not agreeable 
to the eye; with primrose and yellow they do not 
particularly agree; with mauve and bronze not 
at all. The two which shall be singled out for 
special mention are both Darwins, Professor Fran- 
cis Darwin and Edmee. The tones of Professor 
Darwin according to the chart are Rouge fraise 
No. 2 within the petals, Yin de Bordeaux No. 
2 outside. This tuhp has a pale lemon-colored 
pistil and a prismatic blue-black base. In Edmee 
the outer petals are of Amaranthe No. 1, with 
much blue in these pinkish tones. These tuhps 

122 




DARWIN TULIPS WITH IRIS GERMANICA 



SPRING FLOWERS 

are beauteous instances of the development of 
their race. 

Let me suggest to those who do not yet know 
the newer Darwins, Cottage tulips, Breeders, and 
Rembrandts an investment in a few bulbs next 
fall, if only a half-dozen of each of some of the 
finer varieties, and, each for himself, see the won- 
ders of these flowers. Make your selections now 
and place your orders at once for fall delivery. 
In the first three classes, if I were to choose four 
out of each as introductory lists, they should be 
these : 

Cottage or May -flowering Tulips: Retroflexa su- 
perba. Moonlight, the Fawn, Inglescombe Pink. 
Darwins: Clara Butt, Reverend H. Ewbank, 
Gudin, and Sophrosyne. Breeders: Coridion, 
Golden Bronze, Louis XIV, Goldfinch, Velvet 
King, and Cardinal Manning. 

These are but short lists, not combinations of 
color — samples of some of the finer varieties 
in the three classes. Would that I might have 
named Zomerschoon in the Cottage group — Zo- 
merschoon, that too costly tulip of unforgettable 
beauty. 

And now for a few combinations of tulips with 
other flowers. The gayest knot of flowers of 

123 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

spring may be produced by the joint use of Tulipa 
Gesneriana, var. rosea, with one of the taller forget- 
me-nots, such as Perfection or Royal Blue. In 
this vivid-crimson tulip there is a dull-blue base; 
something of that blue is perhaps imparted to 
the rosy chalice of the flower and makes it perfect 
company for the sweetest of pale blossoms. 

Mr. Divers, head gardener to the Duke of 
Rutland, makes these suggestions as to combina- 
tions of tulips and low-growing plants to flower 
together: Couleur Cardinal, a single early tulip, 
with Phlox divaricata; tulip Picotee is also rec- 
ommended with the phlox; and the same fine 
tulip w^ith myosotis Royal Blue. This should be 
exceedingly good, especially as we recall the rosy 
flushing of Picotee as it ages. For a very lively 
effect, tulip Vermilion Brilliant is suggested as 
a companion to the pale-yellow primrose. Mr. 
Divers uses ribbon grass {Phalaris arundinacea, 
var. variegata) with Phlox divaricata, tulip Picotee, 
and Auhrieta Leichtlini, plants which when prop- 
erly set with relation to each other's heights and 
habits must surely make a perfect picture in 
lavender and rose. 

Another authority on tulips would have tulip 
Thomas Moore, that tawny-orange flower, rise 

124 



SPRING FLOWERS 

above yellow primroses; the Darwin Erguste 
bloom over Phlox divaricata, or Bouton d'Or with 
myosotis. All these are good; and a trial of any 
two together must convince the doubter that half 
spring's pleasure lies in tulip time. 

Tulip Bouton d'Or, almost droll in its fat round- 
ness, and whose rare rich yellow is already de- 
scribed, proved most excellent in conjunction with 
the cushion irises in flower, such varieties as Isis 
and Helense. Their strange red-purples were 
very sumptuous among groups of these tulips. 
Tulip Le Reve, that flower whose beauty is one 
of my perennial delights, showed a peculiar charm 
rising among colonies of Mertensia Virginica. The 
general tone of Le Reve, according to the color 
chart, is Rose brule No. 1; the petals are feath- 
ered with Rose violace No. 4, while the centres 
of the outer petals show Lilas rougeatre. The 
mertensia flowers are of Bleu d'azur No. 1, 
though more lavender-blue and with greater depth 
of tone. The buds are of Violet de cobalt No. 1, 
the leaves Vert civette No. 3. 

A suggestion for spring planting noted last season 
was the remarkably rich effect of tulips Purple 
Perfection, Vitellina, and Innocence with cut buds 
and blooms of the superb purple lilac Ludwig 

125 



THE ^YELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

Spaeth. A noble combination, this, for a border 
in which interesting and original color is desired. 
Tiihp President Lincoln I thought a great find. 
The chart description of it would be this : darkest 
tone of petal, Violet d'iris No. -2; paler part of 
petal, Lilas violace No. C. Let me suggest with 
eveiy confidence in its value the growing of Presi- 
dent Lincoln with the two tuhps. Mrs. Collier 
and Doctor Hardy, shown in color on the cover 
of the Reverend Joseph Jacob's capital book, 
"Tuhps," that book written from ''the innate 
fire of an enthusiast's heart." The Fawn, the 
well-known Darwin tuhp, was gTo\^^l among two- 
year-old plants of Hydrangea arborcscois. Blanc 
rose No. 3, in the chart, gives an idea of the 
tone of the outer petals of this very wonderful 
flower, but its luminous quality will not be de- 
scribed. An underlying tone of palest yellow in 
the tulip made it pecuharly lovely among the 
leaves of the hydrangea. 

I have come to beheve mvself among the most 
impressionable of gardeners; dehghted at the 
least indication of the love of flowers in a casual 
acquaintance; ever ready to set off at short no- 
tice to look at gardens; but not always so de- 
hghted with what I find. And since there is in 

126 



SPRING FLOWERS 

me this critical quality, born doubtless of much 
looking and comparing when I see, as I saw lately, 
a garden comparatively small in compass but in- 
comparably interesting, my heart fills with a plea- 
sure not unlike the poet's at the sight of the cele- 
brated daffodils. 

In this garden, some of it under tall trees, a 
city garden not a hundred miles from where I 
live, on a day in earliest June, there was to be 
seen a most lovely flower grouping, in which the 
following flowers had place: Masses of that won- 
derful pinkish-mauve Iris pallida, var. Dalmatica 
Queen of May, tall lupines of rich blue near by, 
with Iris Madame Chereau back of this, while be- 
fore the group and among it were opening on tall 
stems the luscious silken salmon-pink flowers of the 
two Oriental poppies Mrs. Perr^^ and Mar\' Stud- 
holme. Below these the coral bells of heucheras 
(alum-rootj hung at the tops of slender swaying 
stems, a slightly richer note of pink than the pop- 
pies. 

As I beheld this beauty in flowers, I said to 
myself: "Here is an end to adjectives." I have 
none in which to adequately describe this loveliness. 
It must be seen for its dehcacy, its evanescent 
quality. All who garden know the texture of 

127 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

the poppy petal, of the flower of the iris. In 
no medium but water-color could possibly be ex- 
pressed the beauty, the daring yet delicate beauty, 
of this arrangement of flowers. I am permitted 
the privilege of trying to describe it to my readers; 
and, while my words are weak, I know full well 
that any flower-grower is to be congratulated who 
may endeavor to arrange for himself the picture 
here set forth. All hardy perennials, all very 
hardy. Do pray experiment with the beauteous 
blooms; set them out together this coming au- 
tumn in some sun-warmed spot, and in two years 
behold a picture unsurpassed for subtle color har- 
mony and contrast. In this garden again I saw 
that the superb poppy of the group above, Mrs. 
Perry, and the ever-glorious Iris 'pallida, var. Dal- 
matica, dwell most happily together, the poppy a 
round flower, a flower on horizontal lines, the iris 
perpendicular, standards and falls; the greens of 
iris and of poppy foliage delicately contrasting; in 
the one the yellow predominating, in the other the 
blue. 



128 



X 



A SMALL SPRING FLOWER 
BORDER 



"Thougli not a whisper of her voice he hear. 
The biiried bulb does know 
The signals of the year 
And hails far Summer with his lifted spear." 

COVZXTRY PaTMORE. 



X 

A SMALL SPRING FLOWER 
BORDER 

THE tale of this border is soon told — not the 
pleasure of it, for I can assure the reader 
that from early spring to late autumn, from the 
hour when peony shoots and bulb leaves first 
pushed their way through the ground, there has 
been no moment when this place had not a pecul- 
iar interest. A slight description written imme- 
diately after the original planting was made, and 
first printed in the Bulletin of the Garden Club of 
America, may here be introduced, thanks to the 
courtesy of that society. 

The border in question is a double one, a bal- 
anced planting on either side of a walk of dark 
brick about two and a half feet wide. The space 
allotted to flowers flanking the walk is some three 
feet. Eight subjects are used; combinations of 
color, periods of bloom, form and height of flowers 
and plants, all are considered. 

At those edges of the borders farthest from 

131 



THE WELL-COXSIDERED GARDEN 

the walk are peonies of white and palest pink — 
Madame Emile Galle, that flower of enchant- 
ment predominating. Next the peonies toward 
the walk, comes a row of Iris pallida Dalmafica, 
then an alternating hne of Iris Kacmpfo^i and 
Spirea astiJbe Arendsii Die Walklire; next these 
the Darwin tuhp Agneta planted alternately with 
Enghsh iris Mauve Queen; then the double early 
tuhp Yellow Rose with myosotis. 

Bleu Celeste, the double early tuHp which Miss 
Jekyll calls the bluest of tulips, was to have 
bloomed with the vivid flower of tulip Yellow Rose. 
But because of Miss Jekyll's commendation of 
Bleu Celeste, or possibly for the more prosaic 
reason of crop failure in Holland, my very late 
order remained unfilled, and Mr. Van Tubergen 
substituted for it the Darwin Agneta. This, he 
assures me, is nearly the color of Bleu Celeste. 
Alas ! unfortunately for me, Agneta blooms after 
Yellow Rose, thus I may not look for the lovely 
bands of clear yellow and dull blue which were 
to have adorned my border in early May. Close 
to the brick itself are mounds of Myosotis di^siti- 
flora and Sutton's Royal Blue, an early and a 
late, while back of these are lines of Alyssum sul- 
phur eum, the hardy one of primrose-yellow. 



SPRING FLOWER BORDER 

I count on the Japanese iris as an ally of the 
English one (though, oddly enough, this was ar- 
ranged long before war broke out), the latter said 
to be a delicious shade of pinkish mauve. The 
cool pink spirea, too, should create a delicate foil 
for the broad-pe tailed Iris Kaempfei-i, and my 
faint and perhaps foolish hope is that a few forget- 
me-nots may be tricked into blooming on till iris 
Mauve Queen shows its color; for of all garden 
harmonies I dearly love the pale blues and mauves, 
brilliant blues and deep violets, set over against 
each other. 

How charming were the flowers along my little 
brick walk about the 15th of May ! Myosotis 
half in bloom, and the soft yellow-green buds of 
Yellow Rose among and above it; tulip Agneta 
only ranks of pointed buds back of these. One 
week later great blooms of yellow tulip (was ever 
tulip better named .^) were in clusters among the 
myosotis while, above this canary color and blue, 
Agneta lifted beautiful lilac cups. The effect was 
indescribably gay and original. Leaves of Iris 
pallida Dalmatica were now broadening back of 
the tulips, spirea spreading its delicately cut 
green and brown-madder foliage between the iris 
spears, and young peonies repeated these tones 

133 



THE WELL-COXSIDERED GARDEN 

of spirea loaves in a vigorous row farthest from 
tlie walk. 

The form and habit of Yellow Rose make it a 
tulip partieularly tit for use with myosotis, but 
its yellow is too strong in tone for the lilac and 
sky-blue of the other tlowers. Moonlight, how- 
ever, is too near Agneta in height. Perhaps Brim- 
stone (Safrano") would be the better subject here, 
but Brimstone blooms earlier than Yellow Rose. 
In using Brimstone, however, off should go its 
head so soon as the rose-pink tiush begins to show, 
since that pink would doubtless to some extent 
interfere with the effect of the three pale colors 
here desired, blue, yellow, and lavender. An- 
other suggestion is, as substitute for the Darwin 
Agnetii the use of the fine tulip Gudin, certainly 
on^ of the most ravishing of all the Darwin tribe; 
or of "Wilham Copeland (Sweet Lavender), the 
beauty whose charming portrait was shown in 
the colored plate with the issue of the "Garden- 
ers' Chronicle" (Enghsh) for November, 1914. 

Brilliant, telling, as these spring flowers were, 
running from arch to arch and seen against green 
lawns, after ten days the picture was yet sweeter, 
for the yellow tulips' race was run. the myosotis 
had lifted delicate blue-clad stems in air, and the 

13-t 



SPRING FLOWER BORDER 

Darwin pink-lavender petals were atop of the 
straightest, tallest of green shafts, so many, so 
exquisitely erect, that a memory of Velasquez's 
great canvas *'The Lances" flashed into the mind. 
Blue and lavender, delicious colors near each 
other, made this walk a place of beauty for days 
after the yellow tulip blooms had fled. 

As I have said, this is a beauty of lavender, 
deep yellow, and pale blue for perhaps two weeks. 
The early tulip first departs, leaving no void, for 
the mauve and pale blue then present a picture 
interesting if more quiet. About the 27th of May 
tulip petals fall, leaving the myosotis a band of 
misty blue on either side the walk; and as Ag- 
neta fades the deep blue-purple Iris Germanica, 
which has for some days held its shafts of buds 
closed and ready beside the Darwins, suddenly 
bursts into great flowers. Unfortunately for my 
complete satisfaction, there was one of those mis- 
takes in the identity of roots which must some- 
times occur in gardens, and only a few of these 
proved of the variety and the tone required for 
this setting. 

There is for a week, the first week of June, a 
lull. Not, however, uninteresting, for the blue- 
greens of tulip leaves are still fresh, the iris swords 

135 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

are fine to see, and the delicately cut yellow-green 
of spirea foliage is charming, covering the earth 
where irises have sprung. Back of these are the 
young peonies all filled with rounded buds, straight, 
handsome, and distinct against the smooth-shaven 
grass beyond the border on either side. 

July, and the tardy spirea Die Walklire in this 
border has not flowered yet. Brownish buds are 
held above every plant and soon there will be 
bloom. Although there are now no flowers along 
the walk, the ejffect of various types of plant foli- 
age is exceedingly good. Blue-green leaves of 
Iris 'pallida Dalmatica rise among all the spireas at 
regular intervals — to be exact, eighteen irises on 
either side; back of these, away from the walk, 
are dark-green peony leaves; toward the walk are 
lines of drying stems of English iris, pale-gray 
mounds of the hardy alyssum, which I shall 
have to confess failed to do well this year, 
but which shall have another invitation to this 
spot, next time by means of seed-sowing, not 
transplanting. 

In May zinnias in those pale tones I so much 
fancy were sown among the myosotis leaves; by 
mid- July they were opening their first flowers ; and 
from that time on, the walk was gay till late 

136 



SPRING FLOWER BORDER 

October, the rather shallow roots seeming not in 
the least to affect the welfare of other subjects 
near them. The illustration shows them in Sep- 
tember. Back of these borders of flowers since 
this description was written have since been set 
close rows of Spirea van Houtteii, whose boughs, 
in time to come, are to be permitted to fall natu- 
rally on the side away from the walk, but to 
be kept close-shaven on that toward the flower- 
borders so that a formal green background may 
be supplied. 

To leave the border now for a few generaliza- 
tions on the flowers of spring and early summer. 
The blooms of tulip Jubilee are of varying heights, 
which gives this tulip a peculiar value, even as 
the twisting of stem in certain gladioli makes them 
more valuable for some purposes. Avis Kenni- 
cott, on the other hand, seems to keep the yard- 
stick always in mind, and her flowers are a regi- 
ment of golden magnificence. Ordinarily, I should 
never place Avis Kennicott near Jubilee and La 
Fiancee, as they are here; nor should I allow 
Le Reve to neighbor these. The perfect place 
for Le Reve is in company with Mertensia Virginica 
alone, as has often been suggested before. Each 
year this combination grows upon me. 

137 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

The effect of sunlight through the cups of La 
Fiancee and Jubilee as they stand together up a 
little slope fairly well covered with young hem- 
lock spruces, is exceedingly nice. The deep violet 
of Jubilee and rich lavender-rose of La Fiancee 
make of them excellent comrades in the border. 
A drift of tall gold flowers stands farther up, and 
beyond the group of spruces, which are from three 
to ten feet high, Heloise shines in the picture with 
one of the tallest and richest of flowers of a fine 
deep-red. Beyond Heloise comes Herzogin von 
Hohenberg, of a medium blue-purple tone, a won- 
derfully valuable color in Darwins, rising from 
quantities of myosotis; and far up the rise of 
ground stands a group of tulip Couleur Cardinal. 
Beyond these again, and to the right, a whole 
colony of Tulip retroflexa gleams from among the 
dark gray-green boughs of hemlock and of young 
white pine. Two or three years ago some charm- 
ing pictures in the bulb-Hst of Messrs. E. H. Kre- 
lage and Sons, of Haarlem, filled me with a desire 
to see tulips grown among evergreens. The pic- 
tures from Holland showed this effectively done 
for a great flower-show at Haarlem, and it seemed 
to me that nothing could be more lovely, more 
striking, too, in effect, than the use of bulbs 

138 



SPRING FLOWER BORDER 

among small conifers of formal habit. The true 
place for daffodils, as we all know, is in spring 
meadows; but tulips require a less careless han- 
dling, and, while it is true that I have grown them 
nearly always in loose groups and masses, I am 
fast coming to the belief that the tulip, from its 
own aspect, calls for design in planting. Do not 
for a moment think that I favor the planting 
suggestions for tulips found in some of the repre- 
sentative bulb-lists of America ! Far from it ! 

Iris Crusader is a magnificent flower. As 
many as four blooms are open at one time, the 
lowest a foot below the topmost; for these flowers 
occur at four places, four angles on the stem. 
The single flower is a glory, its prevailing tone 
(Ridgway) a deep bluish-violet. There is some- 
thing in the spring of the long curves of this 
flower both in standard and fall which gives it a 
unique beauty. The brownish pencilling at the 
top of each fall, the orange-yellow beard which 
surmounts those charming tones of blue-violet 
which suffuse the whole, make it a distinguished 
flower. It is a knight among irises; and, bloom 
occurring just before the pallida section, it seems 
to herald a company of nobles of the garden. No 
flower could bear a fitter name than does this iris; 

139 



THE WELL-COXSIDERED GARDEN 

whoever named it liad a sense of fitness all too 
rare. 

The Rembrandt tulip lias for the last two or 
three seasons cast its spell upon me. "America 
is biting." says an EngHsh tuHp authority in 
words better calculated to give pleasure to our 
friends, the Dutch growers, than to us ! Yet 
this is true: the charm of the Rembrandt is be- 
ginning to make itself felt in the land. One of 
the most interesting of this group is Bougain\-ille 
Duran.. the tones of whose markings are (^Ridgway) 
hght ^'inaceous-purple and neutral red — these 
laid upon a ground of dehcious ivorj^-white. For 
richness of color and general beauty of appear- 
ance this is the finest Rembrandt I have seen. 
Its use below hlacs, especially below a group of 
young low-flowering bushes, is sure to give pleas- 
ure — before Toussaint rOuverture, Souvenir de 
Ludwig Spaeth, those rich red-\'iolets in lilacs, and 
those bluer ones. President Gre\y for instance. 
Seniele is another fine tulip in this class — Ru- 
cellin-purple, flaked pomegranate-purple. 

A planting of these four tuhps (names below) 
over or back of a low-flowering plant such as the 
deep -purple aubrieta, or that new variety which 
is so warmly commended. Lavender, might make 



SPRING FLOWER BORDER 

a good spring picture, the tulips to be Reverend 
H. Ewbank, Bleu Celeste, Morales, and a very 
few white ones, such as Innocence or La Candeur. 
Another plan is to plant well in front of that 
grand tulip Flava the beautiful lavender Scilla 
campanulata Excelsior; and between this and the 
tulip the wonderful mauve iris of about fifteen 
inches' height, Mrs. Alan Gray. There would be 
a sight whose loveliness the "scant gray meshes 
of words" could never catch and show. A fine 
delicacy of effect this — palest primrose tulip, 
blue-lavender scilla, and pinkish lavender in the 
iris blooms. 

A wondrous new all-yellow iris in the Germanica 
tribe, named by its originator for Miss C. P. Sher- 
win, is treasure-trove for the June garden. Aqui- 
legia chrysantha in connection with this iris, or 
groups of the latter planted below the perfect 
sprays of that perfect rose known as spinosissima, 
or, for a livelier picture, the new iris before the 
vivid blue of the anchusa — beauty could not fail 
the gardener here. 

The "lily -flowered" tulips just announced from 
Holland and never yet shown in America will cre- 
ate great interest here. Sirene, Adonis, Argo, 
marvel tones of satiny rose, rich rose, golden yel- 

141 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

low, salmon-rose, all with the reflexed petals and 
tall habit of Tulipa retroflexa, will be welcomed 
with enthusiasm if they prove as beautiful as their 
just-named parent. 



142 



XI 



NOTES ON SOME OF THE 
NEWER GLADIOLI 



"In summer a strew of fresh rushes, mint, and gladiolus 
(that flower so dear to mediaeval eyes) covered the pave- 
ment with a cool fragrance, while a bough of some green 
tree or flowering bush filled the hearth." 

— (From chapter The Mediaeval Country-House), 
"The Fields of France," ]Mad.\me Mart Duclaux. 



XI 

NOTES ON SOME OF THE 
NEWER GLADIOLI 

IT is November and all tuberous things, all ten- 
der bulbs, have been "safely garnered in, ere 
the winter storms begin." Dahlias are in their 
sandy nests; gladioli repose in labelled paper bags; 
tritomas, Galtonias are in dry, cool spots for winter 
safety. 

As we work under leafless trees and where noth- 
ing of green remains save the bright grass and the 
rich hues of pine and hemlock, the colors impris- 
oned within each bulb are sure to rise before me. 
I see again the rainbow of that wonderful exhibit 
of gladiolus as it was to be seen in Chicago last 
August; the matchless beauty of such blooms as 
Niagara and Panama. And I here set down a 
few notes on the gladiolus made last summer, both 
at home and away from it. 

And first let me say that the best recent hap- 
pening for the lover of this flower, and conse- 
quently, of course, the best thing for the grower 

145 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

of gladiolus in this country, was the formation of 
the American Gladiolus Society. To all who take 
serious interest in this flower, I would recom- 
mend the small monthly publication, "The Mod- 
ern Gladiolus Grower," published at Calcium, 
New York, by Mr. Madison Cooper, himself an 
amateur; this paper is the organ of the American 
Gladiolus Society, and a very fountainhead of 
expert information in all matters relating to 
gladioli. 

But to the gladiolus itself ! Let me herald first 
the coming, the glorious coming of the lavender 
beauty, Badenia by name. No words can paint 
the beauty of this flower. A true lavender in 
color, not too blue, its flowers are large, finely 
expanded, and many open upon the stem at one 
time. 

Countless combinations of this with other 
flowers crowd upon one's vision. AYhich would 
be fairer, an arrangement of like colors? Shall 
we let Badenia open above a mass of well-staked 
velvet-purple petunia? Or shall we see it rise 
above quantities of cool-pink Ostrich Plume aster? 
Again, we might grow it near palest yellow snap- 
dragon; or, a more subtle arrangement yet, plan 
to have it late against Salvia azurea, the junction 

146 



THE NEWER GLADIOLI 

of its stems with the ground masked by rippling 
mounds of Phlox Drummondii, var. lutea. All pale 
yellows and buffs, all rich purples, all blues which 
are almost turquoise, rise to the mind as I think 
of the delicious pictures easily created with this 
noble gladiolus. Badenia has but one serious de- 
fect, its price is very high. To remedy that con- 
dition let us wish it the Arab wish: "May its 
tribe increase." 

Now for the glorious pair Niagara and Panama. 
Niagara shall have the first word. Niagara is 
quite worthy of several descriptions. I therefore 
give first its commercial one, prefacing that by 
the fact that it has already secured three honors 
from horticultural societies, including one from the 
American Gladiolus Society. *'In type," says its 
originator, *'the variety resembles America, but 
the flowers appear to be somewhat larger, meas- 
uring four and one-half inches across. In color the 
flowers are a delightful cream shade, with the two 
lower inside petals or segments blending to ca- 
nary-yellow. The flower spike is very erect and 
stout and is wrapped with broad dark-green 
foliage." 

Now, to be exact in my own color description 
of this flower, Niagara is of the tone known as 

147 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

Naples yellow (color chart, Jauiic do Naples No. "-2). 
Deep in its throat arc linos of faintest lilac (^color 
chart, Rose lilaco No. -iV Those, howovor, do not 
in the least interfere with the general otl'oct of 
palest yellow or cream given by the whole fine 
tlower. 

Two combinations of Niagara with other flow- 
ers flew to my mind, as I hold this beauty in my 
hand. Phlox E. Danzanvilliers back of it, agera- 
tum Stella Giirney below and in front. The phlox 
can be made to hold its bloom for some time — 
the ageratum. as we know, is incessant. Again, 
nothing loveher, thought L than Niagara with 
salpiglossis of that dark velvety mahogany known 
as Faust: or below phlox Von Hochberg. The 
color at the base of the gladiolus, slight though 
it is, is very little lighter than the wine-purple of 
this phlox itself. Lovely, too, should Niagara be 
with all-lavender hardy asters, especially with 
that of the barren name of James Ganly. 

Panama, a sister of Niagara, was the third cap- 
tivator of the gladiolus show. I here declare, 
speaking with all possible calmness, that It Is the 
softest and most charming tone of pronounced 
rose-pink I have ever noticed in a flower. It 
makes one think of roses, of the best roses, par- 
ies 



THE NEWER GLADIOLI 

ticularly of Mrs. John Laing, and while I have 
never fancied the idea which obtains here and there 
of growing gladioU among roses, because of the 
leggy look of both roses and gladioli at their best, 
yet, if it must be done, Panama is the flower to 
place in our rose-beds ! The pink of Panama is 
that called mauve-rose (color chart, Rose malvace 
No. 9). Almost invisible markings there are, 
deep in its throat, of purple-carmine (Carmin 
pourpre No. 2). A setting of lyme grass, Elymus 
arenariuSy is suggested, with perhaps, near by, a 
few blooms of the new decussata phlox of luscious 
pink, Elizabeth Campbell. While the phlox is 
lighter in tone than the gladiolus, the pinks are 
of precisely the same type, for I have compared 
the living flowers. Verbena Dolores might fur- 
nish the base of this planting to charming ad- 
vantage. 

With the older gladioli. Peace, Dawn, and 
Afterglow, we have a sextet of what seemed to 
me the most beautiful of the newer gladioli, 
America excepted, but America is now established. 
It will be noticed, too, that I am far too modest 
to describe my own beautiful namesake, but I own 
to such a prejudice in favor of this flower and its 
brilliant and unmatchable flame-pink, that I could 

149 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

not under the circumstances write dispassionately 
of it. 

The above-mentioned sextet, then, I would 
say, comprises several of the newer varieties of 
gladiolus whose interesting color and fine form 
fit them particularly for garden groupings of orig- 
inality and charm. Of other fine varieties I shall 
presently speak, but these are really marvellous 
for beauty. One has but to see them to feel ideas 
for placing them, flocking softly to one's brain. 
Next year, oh, next year! 

It is impossible to overpraise the cool elegance of 
gladiolus Peace. Its flowers are milky-white (color 
chart, Blanc de lait No. 1) with well-defined nar- 
row stripes on the lower petals, far back in the 
throat, of rosy magenta (color chart. Magenta 
rougeatre No. 1). The variety is said to be un- 
surpassed for cutting, as the flowers keep well in 
water, and buds will open the entire length of the 
spike. Peace is surely the noblest white gladiolus. 
Its large flower, the slender violet markings so well 
within the throat that there is hardly an effect of 
color, gives one the impression of a pure white spike 
of bloom which had once looked upon an evening 
sky. 

Two gladioli with charmingly suggestive names 

150 







O 

m 

M 

03 
!>; 
IS 
«^ 

tC 

o 

Q 
O 



r.^f I % ^-'.^'^ 



THE NEWER GLADIOLI 

are Dawn and Afterglow. Dawn, the lovely and 
poetic both in name and in look, has for its gen- 
eral color salmon-carmine (color chart, Carmin 
saumone No. 1). In my own tongue I should 
call this flower suffused with dehcate coral-pink 
— the buds hke the palest coral from Naples — 
these buds, too, gracefully drooping with a large 
softness pecuHarly their own. Dawn — what sug- 
gestion in the name! Dawn rising among well- 
established groups of the Japanese anemones 
Whirlwind or Beaute Parfaite; Dawn with the 
salmon-pink geranium Beaute Poitevine; Dawn 
in conjunction with Niagara — all these are sure 
to prove arrangements to charm one's eye in mid- 
summer. There is a salmon-pink balsam above 
which Dawn might be enchanting. Afterglow 
greatly caught my fancy. In general tone it is a 
flesh-pink (color chart. Rose carne No. 4), with 
throat markings, very apparent, lilac-purple (chart, 
Fuchsine No. 4). A rich salmon of generally the 
same tone in all its flowers would be my own 
description of it. 

Taconic I had opportunity to observe closely 
last August; its general color is mauve-rose (Rose 
malvace No. 2), though the flakes of white very 
finely distributed over the prevailing tone make 

151 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

it difficult to exactly place the color. Its mark- 
ings are of carmine-purple (Pourpre carmine No. 
3), slim, narrow lines. The effect of the flower 
was of a beautiful warm pink flaked and feath- 
ered with white, as in a Breeder tulip; the mark- 
ings, however, much more delicate. 

Philadelphia and Evolution come next to mind; 
the former in color mauve-rose (chart. Rose mal- 
vace No. 1), clear pale rose-pink tone, fine form, 
a wide, large flower with sharp, narrow markings 
in the throat, of carmine-purple (chart, Pourpre 
carmine No. 3). Evolution's prevailing tone is 
mauve-rose (chart, Rose malvace No. 1, flaked 
with No. 4 on the same plate, and with dark old- 
rose — chart. Rose brule No. 3). The anthers of 
this pair of lovely gladioli, with their pale-pink 
tones — the anthers are of the shade called bluish 
lilac (Lilas bleuatre No. 1) — give genuine distinc- 
tion to these flowers. 

Gladiolus Rosella is a lovely thing. In its 
main tone carmine-purple (chart, Pourpre car- 
mine No. 1, with its throat markings No. 3 on 
the same plate), the effect is of a huge flower of 
rich orchid-like pink, very beautiful, a very open, 
spreading flower. Rosella above ageratum Stella 
Gurney cannot fail to be a success in color plant- 

152 



THE NEWER GLADIOLI 

ings; Rosella below Salvia azurea, with the an- 
nual pink mallow near by; and, last, Rosella with 
Baron Hulot, that small-flowered but ever-needed 
gladiolus of the color known as bishop's violet 
(chart, Violet eveque No. 4). I am myself minded 
to grow Baron Hulot in the midst of ageratum 
Stella Gurney — precisely as one lets a colony of 
tulips appear above forget-me-not; and Baron 
Hulot would be also most perfect among the fine 
creamy flowers of chrysanthemum Garza. 

With a few very short descriptions I am done. 
Senator VoUand is an interesting flower, the gen- 
eral tone of its petals bright violet (chart, Violet 
de campanule No. 1). Blotches of amaranth 
(chart, Amarante No. 4), with yellow-white spaces 
below these, occur on the inferior petals, with a 
lovely mottling of the amaranth on these lower 
petals as well. "Bright violet" does not describe 
the color of this flower to me as well as pale 
cool lavender, with richer lavender or purple on 
the throat, flakes of a true cream color upon the 
purple. Canary-bird, with its clear light yellow 
(no visible markings of any other color), is most 
charming in combination with Senator Volland. 
And the Senator again might stand to great ad- 
vantage before tall groups of Physostegia Virginica, 

153 



THE WELL-COXSIDERED GARDEN 

%'ar. /V.'^w:. the soft rosy false dragon's-head. The 
color of Caiiar\--bird on the chart is sulphur-yel- 
low i^Jaune soufre Xo. 1\ 

Isaac Buchanan may not be a new gladiolus 
hut it was new to me — a lemon-flaked soft pink, 
the flakes gi^'ing a charming effect. The flower 
is not large, but rare in color, and above Phlox 
Drummondii, var. lutea. an interesting effect should 
be got. Snowbird is a lovely white with pinkish- 
\'iolet slender markings in the throat: La Luna, 
a soft creamy white with a ver\' clearly defined 
marking of richest Pompeiian red on the throat; 
California, a pinkish lavender gladiolus, is an ex- 
cellent color for use with America; Princess Al- 
tiere, a very large pure white with royal-purple 
markings on the lower petals; and Ludependence, 
a magnificent salmon-pink, very hght in tone, re- 
minding me in a general way of the fine old Wil- 
Ham Falconer, but far and away better in t\'pe — 
every gladiolus named here is to me worth getting 
and growing. 

I emphatically advise the buying of small quan- 
tities of these bulbs as a starter, as one would 
with fine tuhps; the careful labelHng. staking, 
comparing with other flowers differing in form, 
color, and habit but blooming simultaneously; and, 

15-t 



THE NEWER GLADIOLI 

most necessary of all, the note-making in one's 
little book — that little book which should never 
be in the house when the gardener is in the garden ! 
I was greatly interested to learn that florists pre- 
fer for cutting in some cases, the gladiolus whose 
stems are allowed to bend and twist as they 
bloom, A hint of this kind may be valuable for 
some of us who grow this superb flower mainly 
to put about our houses. It is easy to see the 
agreeable variety of line afforded for such purposes 
by the gladiolus which has not been strictly 
staked. 

On going over what has been said, I marvel at 
my attempt to write on the glories of this special 
flower. I have, in the first place, left out so many 
beauties, such for instance as Sulphur King, Mrs. 
Frank Pendleton, Jr. (bright rose-pink, a little 
deeper toward centre of the flower, the lower 
petals blotched with carmine — so remarkable 
that a connoisseur writes of it: "Mrs. Pendleton 
is in bloom, has a five-foot stalk with twenty 
flowers and a smaller offshoot with twelve; it is 
simply magnificent"), William Falconer, America, 
Kunderd's Glory — there are dozens which should 
come into any writing in connection with this 
flower. No flower of the garden proves more irre- 

155 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

sistible to me than this. Its lovely perpendicular 
line first, lily like, irislike; then its truly pris- 
matic range of exquisite color. No wonder that 
hybridizers in Holland, France, Germany, Great 
Britain, and this country have been earnestly 
working now for years upon so beautiful a sub- 
ject, or that amateur hybridizers are beginning 
to crop out in our own land. 

The cultivation of the gladiolus is so exceed- 
ingly simple; the results so wonderfully reward- 
ing; the color effects so certain of accomplish- 
ment with flowers which come as true to type 
and color as these; there is everything to praise 
in this flower, no check to the imagination when 
forming one's summer plans with lists of it by 
one's side. Gardens of enchantment might easily 
be created by the careful use of two annuals such 
as dark heliotrope, ageratum Stella Gurney, and 
the lavender, cool, pink, and palest-yellow gladi- 
olus, mentioned in these pages. A mistake of 
judgment would be almost impossible with these 
materials in hand. 



156 



XII 
MIDSUMMER POMPS 



"Soon will the high Midsummer pomps come on. 
Soon will the musk carnations break and swell, 
Soon shall we have gold-dusted snapdragon, 
Sweet- William with his homely cottage smell. 
And stocks in fragrant blow; 
Roses that down the alleys shine afar. 
And open, jasmine-muflBed lattices. 
And groups under the dreaming garden-trees. 
And the full moon, and the white evening star." 
— Matthew Arnold. 



XII 

MIDSUMMER POMPS 

AS I sat in my garden one fine evening in late June 
^ of the year just gone, my eye wandered over 
near-by heads of pale-pink peonies, and beyond 
other white ones, to a distant corner where a rather 
unusual color effect had appeared. At the back 
of this flower group was a tall dark-blue del- 
phinium, name unknown; to the right stood the 
charming one La France, its round flowerets set 
thickly and evenly up the stem, their general 
tone a pale pinkish-mauve. Directly below La 
France the fingered stems of the lovely perennial 
foxglove. Digitalis ambigua, were to be seen. Be- 
side the buff foxglove masses of the purple-blue 
Campanula persicifolia, erect and delicate, had 
place, and the foremost flowers of the group were 
gay single pyre thrums, with a high light in the 
presence of a few of the common white daisies. 
In the warm evening light the flowers seemed to 
take on a new aspect. The blue of the tall lark- 
spur spires had acquired a translucent quality; 

159 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

the little Aunchen Mueller roses set thick against 
opening g^'psophila glowed like rubies; the great 
white peonies flushed in the setting sun till one 
might fancy that Fcsfira maxima had magically 
become that beauty of beauties in peonies, Ma- 
dame Emile Galle. 

A few particularly fine delphiniums have this 
year attained special perfection in the garden, in 
better shades of hght blue than any before seen 
here, except perhaps for the blue of the old fa- 
vorite Cantab and the fine Madame Violet GesHn 
which a year ago vras a revelation. La France, 
elsewhere described, gave great dehght. Kelway's 
Lovely was remarkable for its overlaid petals of 
palest blue and palest lavender. The beauteous 
Persimmon, too, was there; its color so truly 
skj'-blue that when a flower was held against the 
heavenly canopy of a fine summer's day, it seemed 
to disappear, to melt into its own hue. One 
could wish that handsome spring-blooming thing, 
muscari Heavenly Blue, relieved of its present 
ill-fitting name and the pretty title bestowed in- 
stead upon delphinium Persimmon. This it in 
very truth describes. 

One of those discerning friends who send de- 
tails of flowers seen afar off, wrote from England 

160 




DELPHINIUM LA FRANCE, CAMPANULA PERSICIFOLIA, DIGITALIS 
AMBIGUA AND PYRETHRUM 



MIDSUMMER POMPS 

the first news of lix; Iavo fJ^Jphiniurns shown farming 
page 104; th(ise were prizo-winning flowers at 
the Holland House show of 1913, and first shown 
in 1908. On \}\(t l(;ff, is a marvellous spike of 
palest sky-hlue and lavender Statuaire Rude. 
The enormous size of the flowerets and the man- 
ner in whieh they range tliemselves loosely up the 
stem, joined to a rare beauty in soft eolor tones, 
give this delphinium a peeuliar distinction. In 
the Alake, at the right of illustration, petals of the 
richest blue are overlaid by others of richest vio- 
let, affording an effect entirely unique and entirely 
sumptuous: delightful to record, the flower is 
named for an Indian potentate! The celebrated 
*'what" that's in a name never troubles me so 
much as in this matter of flower nomenclature. 
Most women gardeners who are readers, too, are 
sensitive to the fitness of flower names. I have 
been ever averse to the naming of flowers for in- 
dividuals, unless the individual so honored shall 
have rendered some service to horticulture. In 
the terminations *'Willmotti," "Sargentii," and 
other such, we rejoice; similarly in ''nigella Miss 
Jekyll," "peony Baroness Schroeder"; these bring 
most properly and with a certain mental stimulus 
to our recollection those whose gardens, whose 

161 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

scientific knowledge, or whose writings have been 
of world-wide value to the gardening public. But 
I could not bring myself to buy a Japanese iris 
yclept Hobart J. Park — no, not unless some ac- 
count of Mr. Park, his tastes and his doings, should 
accompany his name in the plant list. Nor do 
I find the name of J. G. Slack pecuharly inviting 
when attached to one of that same poetic tribe of 
iris. Do seedsmen name flowers for good cus- 
tomers ? I mightily fear it ! Names, to be per- 
fection, should first carry some descriptive qual- 
ity, and next they should be words of beauty. 
Many examples might be given: Dawn, most 
aptly fit for the lovely pale-pink gladiolus which it 
adorns; Capri (a name, of course, to conjure with), 
a true felicity as a name for a delphinium of a rav- 
ishing tone of sky-blue; Eyebright, for that won- 
drous daffodil with scarlet centre; Bonfire, for the 
salvia's burning reds; Lady Gay, the happiest hit 
in names for that sweet httle rose which will 
dance anywhere in the sun and wind of June. 

A sight most lovely is, of a summer's evening, 
to see Delphinium Moerheimi lifting its white spires 
of flowers against a green background of shrub- 
bery with a blue mist of sea-holly below it, and 
in the foreground, rising from gypsophila masses, 

162 



MIDSUMMER POMPS 

other spires of richest rose-pink hollyhock. White 
and lavender phloxes in the middle distance add 
to the charm of this picture. Tapis Blanc, and 
Antonin Mercie, and the little dark balls of box- 
trees, and the blooming standard Conrad F. Mayer 
roses with their formal flavor, are agreeable acces- 
sories, really enhancing the beauty of the freer 
flower masses. 

As each summer appears and waxes, I think I 
have found the companion for sea-holly. One year 
it was phlox Coquelicot or its brilliant brother 
R. P. Struthers; another year phlox Pantheon 
was my favorite for the honor; while last year I 
was entirely captivated by the effect of the an- 
nual Statice bonduelli, primrose or canary-yellow, 
with the blue-gray eryngium. But this season a 
large group of the sea-hollies chanced to bloom 
beside another group of pentstemon, and a happy 
alliance it was, quite the happiest of all. The 
brilliant color of the pentstemon, Pentstemon bar- 
batus Torreyii, found its perfect concomitant in the 
cloudy blues of the eryngium, and the two to- 
gether formed a satisfying spectacle. This pent- 
stemon, not one of the newer hybrids, I also 
liked for use in the house, especially when rising 
from bowlfuls of the creamy heads of Hydrangea 

163 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

arborescens; the effect, a severe contrast, was good. 
The pentstemon is a trifle too near scarlet to be 
welcome in my garden — it must remain without 
the gate; but in gayer gardens than mine it should 
always have place. Lovely it would surely be 
above mounds of cream- white zinnias in full bloom 
with a sweet pea like Barbara rising back of the 
pentstemon. 

Sea-holly ! I could sing its praises for pages ! 
Sea-holly has never seemed to me to find its per- 
fect companion for cutting until, in the trial gar- 
den, acquaintance was luckily made with the an- 
nual Statice sinuata bonduelli. Statice incana has 
here been known and loved; Statice latifolia, that 
beautiful violet statice which ladies buy on Edin- 
burgh streets; but Statice bonduelli, with its deli- 
cate yellow blooms, became in a day a prime favor- 
ite. The loveliness of its foot-high branching stems 
covered with tiny canary-yellow flowers, when 
cut and held against the bluish sea-holly, can 
hardly be imagined. Gypsophila paniculatay the 
double variety, is good with the two, but possibly 
the pair are best alone. For out-of-door effect 
the statice should not be overlooked; though its 
stems are rather sparse, its leaves entirely basal, 
it is nevertheless a treasure, and a charming result 

164 




JS,^s^ 



DELPHINIUMS THE ALAKE AND STATUAIRE RUDE 



MIDSUMMER POMPS 

occurs when the later mauve variety blooms, with 
many heads of a new pale-yellow centaurea gently 
forcing their way to the sun through the tiny 
lavender statice blossoms. 

Gladiolus primulinus hybrids are a delight to 
the "garden soul." Exquisite soft tones of pale 
yellow with now and again some spikes of a pale 
flame-pink, they are most lovely as they grow, 
while for cutting, used with Statice honduelli and 
the double gypsophila, nothing could be more 
attractive. Add to your arrangement of these 
flowers a cluster of that enchanting sweet pea. 
Sterling Stent, you shall rejoice in what you have 
created. Sterling Stent ! I betray a valuable 
gardening secret when I tell of him. His color, 
according to the French chart, is Laque de Ga- 
rance from 1 to 4 with occasional tones of Rouge 
peche 4. Beautiful beyond description is he, and 
he fadeth not in sun ! 

And now a word concerning a certain double 
rose-colored annual poppy, a poppy which has 
become a rose-pink essential to this garden. One 
of Sutton's hollyhocks, a double pink of the exact 
tone of these poppies (chart, all shades of Rose 
Nilsson), has made a picture here and there, lifting 
its tall stems set with rich pink bosses of rosy 

165 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

petals above the rounding gypsophilas in whose 
lacy masses some poppies softly bloom. So like 
are the poppies to the individual hollyhock flowers 
that it is as if some of the former had whimsically 
decided to grow along a hollyhock stalk. If one 
were to try for this effect, a new gladiolus, Display, 
should be freely used within the range of vision 
here; and the beauteous sea-holly would again 
prove its high garden value if groups should be 
set in this picture. Among the pink poppies I 
very much fancy the white platycodon, P. grandi- 
florum album; the pearly tone of these flowers 
charming with the gay poppy-blooms, and the 
platycodon's smooth pointed cups affording an 
interesting contrast to the other's soft fulness of 
fringed silk. Gladiolus Display among sea-holly 
could not but be excellently effective. It is a 
gladiolus of rare beauty. 

Let us not pass by the Oriental poppy in our 
consideration of the flowers of the poppy tribe. 
In the latitude of Boston the fresh pale-green 
tufts of the former may be discovered in early 
April, a heartening and lovely sight as the last 
snows of winter are vanishing before the spring 
sun. These have formed in the previous autumn, 
but this perennial has a constitution to withstand 

166 



MIDSUMMER POMPS 

the severest of winters. Here is a flower which 
does well in any good garden soil, though sunlight 
is its prime necessity. Equally vital to its well- 
doing is its transplanting when dormant in August 
or September, or so I used to think. I know now, 
after some experimenting, that the Oriental poppy 
can be safely moved in spring as well. 

Until two years ago, when some of the varieties 
of this flower of recent introduction were revealed 
to me, I was ignorant of the development of the 
flower. 

"Then felt I like some watcher of the skies 
When a new planet swims into his ken." 

Princess Victoria Luise, the huge bloom of a 
delicious rosy -salmon hue, was a sensation. One 
who enjoys the delicate suggestion of thin flame 
should stand before this flower transported with 
delight. And now the Hst of Bertrand H. Farr, 
of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, gives us no less 
than thirty varieties of Oriental poppies in only 
five of which the word "scarlet" enters into the 
descriptions. All the rest verge upon the salmon, 
apricot, amaranth, and deep-mulberry shades. The 
lighter colors of these newer poppies are, as has 
been suggested, very like those of the Shirley 
poppy, and how remarkable to find in the larger, 

167 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

stronger, and more enduring flowers the charming 
color characteristics of that poppy, whose one 
defect is its ephemeral quality! 

From a color-plate in the list of the plantsman 
just mentioned a very beautiful combination of 
poppies should be got by using the rich amaranth 
Mahony, described as "deep mahogany -maroon,'* 
but which I should call a blackish mulberry, with 
Rose Queen, a fine satiny rose-pink. The revolu- 
tion in color in these poppies transforms them at 
once into subjects of the greatest interest for the 
formal or informal garden, the garden which pre- 
cludes the use of scarlet, orange, or any deep 
yellow. The rich darkness of Mahony would be 
a heavenly sight with the Dropmore anchusa ris- 
ing back of it, but for real nobility of effect the 
two should be used alone. 

Some plants seem a bit dull in their beginnings; 
not so with this, for from the first the lovely form 
and curve of each leaf is apparent, aside from the 
fresh yellow-green of the leaf-group. To fill the 
wide spaces of earth which should occur between 
plants destined for so rapid and so large a growth, 
tulips are suggested; to follow the poppy bloom 
and act again as a ground cover, seed of salpi- 
glossis sown early, or of tall marigold, whose foli- 

168 



MIDSUMMER POMPS 

age and bloom will in August and September 
seem to be the only inhabitants of this part of 
the border or the garden. If the objection be 
raised that the poppy leaves must shade such 
seeds in May and June, I reply that it is easy so 
to stake aside a leaf or two of the poppy in many 
places as to allow the sun full access to the little 
seedlings of annuals. 

Shall I be forgiven for returning to the subject 
of sea-lavenders, or statices, for a moment ? Seeds 
of several varieties started under glass not only 
made a pretty effect in rows but became a ne- 
cessity for cutting. The variety honduelli already 
mentioned was tried for the first time, taken on 
faith and the word of Sutton & Sons. It found 
favor at once. Statice sinuata, mauve, came true 
to its name, bearing pale-mauve flowers in what 
might be called tiny boughs or branches about a 
foot from the ground. Statice sinuata Mauve proved 
to be of many lovely tones of pale mauve, bluish 
mauve, and cream-white. But, oh, the pale-yel- 
low variety, S. sinuata honduelli^ again ! In this 
we have almost a primrose-yellow Gypsophila pa- 
niculata for the making delicate of our bowls and 
jars of July flowers. One should see it with sea- 
holly. On its fitness for use with Gladiolus primu- 

169 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

linus hybrids I have already dwelt; indeed, there 
is hardly one flower whose beauty it might not 
enhance. And then — amusing to me who dislike 
dried flowers for decorative uses — the texture of 
all these statices is like that of tissue-paper. 
Draw the finger lightly across their flower clusters 
when in full bloom and hear the soft rustle of 
them ! Statice bonduelli against brown-seeding 
gypsophila, the single, with the great orange lily, 
Lilium superbum, is exceedingly good in effect 
because of the yellow-green of the statice and of 
the lily-buds. The decorative value of seeds ripe, 
but not too ripe, is seldom dwelt upon, but I can 
assure the reader that the three things mentioned 
make together a most lovely planting for early 
August and are equally beautiful when cut. 

It may be of interest to set down here a brief 
account of trials of some newer gladioli, only of 
those which made themselves uncommonly wel- 
come. In Display, mentioned above as a fine 
neighbor for the rose-colored poppy, I noticed a 
flower of very beautiful form — a broad, well- 
opened flower of most decided character and good 
looks; on its outer petals is a suffusion of Rose 
begonia No. 1, deepening toward the outer edges 
to Rose vieux No. 2. The anthers bore a dis- 

170 



MIDSUMMER POMPS 

tinct lavender tone, and a fine cream-white on 
the lower petals of the gladiolus connected the 
darker shades of rose above and below it. 

The marvellous Mrs. Frank Pendleton I also 
saw a year since for the first time, and this was 
an experience apart. The flower, a broad, finely 
opened one of white, carried petals all flushed to- 
ward the tips with Rose malvace; the markings 
of lower petals were of extraordinary richness and 
depth of color. In chart colors the nearest to 
this tone was Rouge carombier No. 4, but the 
plate was really neither dark nor velvety enough. 
Rouge Andrinople No. 1 is the tone of these 
large oval markings. Mrs. Pendleton is a gladi- 
olus in a thousand, and its American origin should 
be a matter for pride to all in this country who 
cherish their gardens. 

The longer I garden, the more deeply do I prize 
all flowers in tones of violet or deep, rich purple. 
We need more such as foils for paler colors, yes, 
and for richer too. The Buddleia is a garden 
godsend and, pleasant to record, is rapidly becom- 
ing better known. The grace of its habit, the 
charming lavenders and purples of its flowery 
racemes, not to mention its gray -green foliage and 
its absolutely constant bloom make it already of 

171 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

value high and wide. At the thought of the vio- 
let gladioli the vision of those enchanting wreaths 
of lavender held out from every Buddleia plant 
floats before my too imaginative eye. The illus- 
tration shows a group of Buddleias blooming above 
gladiolus America, which in its turn is grown among 
hardy French chrysanthemums partly for support 
from the latter, partly for succession of bloom in 
the trial garden. 

Phoebus, Nuage, Abyssine, ColibrI, and Satel- 
lite are the lavender or violet flowers I would now 
name. The first, possessed of long, narrow petals, 
whose general tone is of Violet de campanule No. 
2, has markings on the inferior petals of Violet 
vineux No. 3. These markings are long, pointed 
blotches terminating in spaces of tenderest creamy 
yellow; the whole a very handsome flower of the 
hooded type. In Nuage the throat markings are 
of Violet rougeatre No. 4, turning below to Violet 
petunia No. 3; the petals are of a grayish lavender, 
Violet franc No. 1. Abyssine is a small gladiolus 
whose general tone is Violet prune No. 4; a flower 
one would not be without, so velvet-soft, so won- 
derful in color. Baron Hulot has long been indis- 
pensable to us all; xAbyssine ranks with Baron 
Hulot. 

172 




BUDDLEIA VARIABILIS MAGNIFICA, WHITE ZINNIA BELOW 



MIDSUMMER POMPS 

Colibri is a flower of many lovely tones of 
mauve and violet, not large but in color unique. 
On its three inner petals are narrow central mark- 
ings of yellowish cream. The dark edges of the 
petals are of Violet pourpre No. 1 ; a lighter tone 
is seen toward the centre, though all is so veined 
and touched with mauve and violet as to be 
difficult to describe. 

Satellite is the last of this dark-hued list. Here 
the general tone is Violet prune No. 4 relieved by 
tones of Amarante in all its shades in the chart. 
Two perfectly rounded lower petals of Violet pen- 
see No. 4 give an astonishing beauty to the flower. 
In my notes concerning it I find this entry: *'No 
gladiolus to compare with this," coupled with an 
admonition to myself to grow it with delphinium 
Mrs. J. S. Brunton, or, for a richer effect, among 
or beyond the tall phlox Goliath. For those who 
would know accurately the color of the delphin- 
ium just mentioned, I may add that the first two 
shades of Bleu de cobalte factice exactly represent 
its petal colors, while its eye is white tinged with 
canary-yellow and palest lavender. 

Yet another gladiolus, the last; and this is of 
those lasts which shall be firsts, for it is a giant 
in size of flower and height of stem — a superb 

173 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

addition to the ranks of gladioli. London is its 
imposing name. In color almost the counterpart 
of America, its cool pink eminently fits it for use 
with the beautiful lavender gladiolus Badenia. 
The flowers of the two are of almost equal size, 
measuring four inches on each side of the triangle 
made by the petals; and they are quite ravishing 
together. Badenia, the purple verbena Dolores, 
and that charming hardy phlox Braga used to- 
gether in a garden should make a most happy 
color arrangement. Gladiolus Satellite, too, is 
exceedingly good with phlox Goliath. 

I spoke just now of verbena Dolores. To be 
explicit as to its color, it has over its fine trusses 
or panicles of bloom the darker shades of Bleu 
d' aniline, but the flower is much darker than No. 
4 of this shade, and has that velvety texture which 
gives the dark verbenas a richness possessed only 
by the darkest snapdragons. 

In the trial garden a few new hardy phloxes as- 
serted themselves last year: two or three dozen 
planted in the spring of the year before rose in 
their might the second season and sent forth glo- 
rious trusses of flowers to proclaim their presence. 
A first cousin in color to the lovely Elizabeth 
Campbell, and very beautiful with it, is Rhyn- 

174 



MIDSUMMER POMPS 

strom, a recent acquaintance. Rhynstrom has a 
wonderfully large jfloweret of a delicious pink; per- 
fect it is before phlox Pantheon, as it is dwarf 
and of a tone of rose to positively accentuate the 
loveliness of the taller of the two. Baron von 
Dedem has decidedly the most dazzling hue of 
all phloxes. Its opening flowers are nearly if not 
quite as brilliant as Coquelicot in full bloom, and 
the expanse of its great blossoms makes it in the 
garden a far more telling phlox than the latter. 
Widar and Braga, two beauties in themselves, lend 
themselves well to use as foregrounds for the taller 
lavender phloxes E. Danzanvilliers and Antonin 
Mercie, again needing to complete the picture 
that good verbena Dolores. Phlox Braga is en- 
trancing with ageratum Stella Gurnee and with 
the same humble but most useful annual, Widar, 
discreetly used, may afford an effect as subtle as 
it is lovely. 

The recent vogue of lavender in all sorts of 
feminine accessories is known to us all. There is 
in this hue a certain refinement, a charm, which 
makes it a special favorite for the woman no 
longer young. Can it be, I wonder, that the sug- 
gestion is taken unconsciously from Nature's own 
use of the tone in the waning of summer, from 

175 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

those flowers which embroider the roadsides with 
lavender-purple in September — aster, ironweed, 
the tall liatris? Be this or not a foolish fancy, 
there is no flower of more value and of greater 
beauty in the September garden than the Bud- 
dleia. It is at every stage of growth most lovely, 
and in its fulness of bloom a thing to marvel at. 
For an autumn picture, set the variety known as 
Magnifica back of phlox Antonin Mercie (in its 
second bloom, all first flowers having been cut 
immediately upon passing), with masses of green- 
white zinnias also in the foreground. Phlox 
Jeanne d'Arc, the tall late white, creates a beau- 
tiful background for these Buddleias, the graceful 
lavender plumes of the latter very delicate against 
the round white mounds of the phlox trusses. 
Mr. E. H. Wilson, an authority upon Buddleias 
as well as upon all other Chinese plants, shrubs, 
and trees, suggests the planting of Sorbaria arborea 
and its varieties by the brook or pond side in com- 
bination with Buddleia. "The effect is every- 
thing the most fastidious could wish for." 

Also in mid-September, a great group of flow- 
ers then in perfection in the trial garden gave ex- 
cellent suggestion for a planned planting. This, 
altogether a happening in arrangement, was seen 

176 



MIDSUMMER POMPS 

against a trellis covered with leaves of the vine. 
Close against the green stood in slender dignity 
a group of blooming Helianthus orgyalis. Miss 
Mellish, ten feet tall, its blooms of clear yellow 
shining against the upper blue. Below the Eelian- 
thus, Sutton's Dwarf Primrose sunflower raised 
its pale-yellow heads with dark-brown centres, 
the yellow-green leaves forming a spreading back- 
ground for tall white zinnias arrayed in groups 
below. The semi-dwarf lavender phlox Antonin 
Mercie, with fragrant creamy-white Acidanthera hi- 
color before it, made the foreground of this picture, 
and those who would have tones in flowers ranging 
from pure chrome-yellow through primrose to lav- 
ender and cream-white will do well to plan this 
simply made and satisfying group. Introduce a 
few hardy asters such as James Ganly, with a bit 
of low-growing verbena Dolores in the extreme 
foreground, and a delicacy of form and a rich 
color accent, too, are at once added to such a 
scheme as this. 

To return to midsummer flowers — three brief 
suggestions and I am done. A rich royal-purple 
Antirrhinum, Purple King by name, was excellent 
when cut, with Statice honduelli; the new giants 
of double zinnias, rose-colored ones only, were 

177 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

permitted to show their stout heads among the 
early -flowering white cosmos, the dwarf variety; 
and more lovely even than these was the picture 
before touched upon of pearly-white platycodon 
with fluffy heads of the double rose-pink poppy 
encompassing it about. These arrangements may 
strike the expert flower gardener as too common- 
place to be entertained. I offer them as points 
of departure and already think with satisfaction 
of the loveliness that may spring from them in 
better hands than mine. 



178 



XIII 
GARDEN ACCESSORIES 



"Mary, my dear, I am very particular about my baskets. 
If ever I lend you my diamonds and you lose them I may 
forgive you — I shall know that was an accident; but if I 
lend you a basket and you don't return it, don't look me 
in the face again." — "Mary's Meadow," J. H. EwiNG. 



XIII 

GARDEN ACCESSORIES 

AS the pen to the writer, as the brush to the 
■^ ^ painter, so the trowel to the gardener! This 
implement must be right — must be, to its user, 
perfect. The trowel, for my own hand, is an 
English one bought long ago in London and 
whose like I have never seen for sale in this coun- 
try. It formed a part of the furnishing of the 
Vickery Garden Basket shown in the illustration, 
and is a small, slender tool. It may be that every 
gardener is ready to declare that he or she has the 
perfect trowel. Be this as it is, mine has stood 
me in good stead for nearly fifteen years, bright 
all that time with use. Its dimensions are a bit 
unusual. The length of the trowel is over all 
thirteen inches, of the blade six and three-quar- 
ters. This blade is unusually narrow, only two 
inches from edge to edge of curving blade. Handle 
and blade are set at a slight angle to each other 
and excellent leverage thus secured. 

My trowel dwells resplendent in a pigskin 

181 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

sheath. No player of the viohn, after finishing 
with his instrument, ever unscrews his bow or 
covers the viohn itself with more care than that 
with which I wipe my trowel and replace it in 
its leathern home. So necessary has my trowel 
become to me that I am even now lending it as 
a model to a manufacturer of tools; and my hope 
is that trowels of this type may soon find their 
way into the hands of all those who feel with 
me that without perfection here the work must 
languish. 

The Vickery Garden Basket, mentioned above, 
is as convenient as such a thing may be. Fitted 
garden baskets, however, are apt to be unsuited 
to individual needs. Either they contain articles 
useless to their owner or they lack the things he 
cannot do without. 

Twelve or thirteen dollars, according to a writer 
in "The Garden Magazine," will supply the ama- 
teur with all tools absolutely necessary for his 
garden; and this is based upon the use of the 
best in tools, not the cheapest. The bill becomes 
higher when one begins to add to these necessaries 
little expediters and simplifiers of garden work; 
but if such additions are made only occasionally 
the financial strain cannot be severely felt. Thus, 

182 



GARDEN ACCESSORIES 

for instance, wall nails with the short, sharp point 
and the lead arm so easily bent are wonderful 
first aids for the putting up of ramblers or of such 
creepers as Euonymus radicans, which seldom 
seems inclined to take hold of a wall of its own 
motion. There is the fascinating tool known as 
" cueille-fleurs " which a dear traveller once brought 
to me from France, and which is, I think, now ob- 
tainable in this country. A rod about a yard in 
length has at its farther end small scissors which 
cut and hold a flower, and these are opened and 
closed by a small arrangement in the handle of 
the rod. Designed for reaching into a wide border 
or up above one's head, this is a useful addition 
to gardening aids. Raffia tape on a spool, with 
a hook which may be caught in a belt or button- 
hole, is something which it is delightful to find 
at one's hand, and verbena pins of galvanized 
wire are resources which one appreciates as ver- 
benas commence to throw about their branching 
stems in June. A small steel finger-cover I have 
often used for light cultivation around small 
lesser plants; and in our gardening those stout 
paper bags in which the Dutch bulbs come are 
never thrown out, but kept for bulbs of gladioli 
which must be sorted into their varieties at the 

183 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

very time when spring-flowering bulbs go into tlie 
ground. 

Those three-piece sets of garden tools — rake, 
hoe, and spade — known as ladies' sizes are not 
only constantly in my own hand, but are evidently 
regarded with some favor by those members of 
the sterner sex whose business it is to keep the 
garden trim. These tools have small heads, but 
handles of the regulation length, and far be it from 
me to find fault if the little neatnesses of the gar- 
den can be best maintained by the use of these 
ladies' sizes. 

Without the Capitol Lawn Edger, a marvel of 
a little six-inch lawn-mower going rapidly about 
on one wheel, we could not garden. "The tyr- 
anny of the grass edge," as Miss Jekyll calls it, 
loses some of its severity when this small edger 
is at hand. Only one going over of an edge with 
scissors is ever necessary after these little knives, 
carried along by their one little wheel, have 
shaved the turf finely and evenly at the edge of 
walk or bed. 

In labels an ingenious thing from England has 
lately presented itself. This is shown in the 
illustration of the Vickery Garden Basket, ris- 
ing from one edge of the basket. It consists of 

184 



GARDEN ACCESSORIES 

a stout wire so bent as to hold the somewhat 
shield-shaped wooden name-piece which swings 
from it. The label has these advantages over the 
average slender wooden ones which are thrust 
into the ground, that it is far enough above the 
earth to be kept clean, that one does not have 
to bend so low to read it, and that it is really 
more readily seen than the accustomed type. At 
a recent convention of florists' societies, accom- 
panied by a show of flowers growing, the labels 
used were very favorably mentioned. Painted 
grass-green, they were lettered in white, and, while 
names were particularly clear, the labels them- 
selves were exceedingly unobtrusive. Not that 
the flower enthusiast ever objects to the presence 
of labels; no, it is too often their absence which 
he has to deplore. Half the pleasure in a fine 
garden lies in an acquaintance with the correct 
names of its plant inhabitants. To be sure, these 
labels, as Mr. Bowles somewhere plaintively re- 
marks, at times become tombstones. Even then, 
how much better to have loved, learned the name, 
and lost than never to have loved at all. 

Two sets of the widely used Munstead baskets, 
whose picture is shown herewith, have hardly suf- 
ficed me during the last twenty years, and these 

185 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

are now weakening under continuous use. In 
these sets or nests there are three baskets — or 
really one might call them willow trays with 
handles — and better gathering baskets for flowers 
I never hope to find. They carry the name of 
Miss Jekyll's place and were designed by her. 
The sweet-pea basket shown is somewhat on the 
order of the jNIunstead basket, but the handle is 
higher and the pointed steel rod, by means of 
which the whole may stand upright in the ground, 
is the addition which makes this of peculiar use. 
A sweet-pea basket it is called, and I can testify 
heartily to its garden value. Two bowl-shaped 
baskets of split bamboo have been my compan- 
ions in the garden for many years, light, capacious, 
convenient, and very beautiful to send about the 
neighborhood filled with flowers. Especially do I 
recall their lovely appearance when holding Clarhia 
of that most charming type known as Sutton's 
Salmon Queen. These bamboo bowls are Japa- 
nese. From Japan, too, come the small brown 
baskets (of which we have no picture) with arching 
handles entirely made of twigs woven roughly to- 
gether; little boat-shaped things these, and when 
filled in April with crocus, scilla, and Iris reticu- 
lata, they are like entrancing bits of woodland 

186 




THE TROWEL, THE LABEL, AND VARIOUS BASKETS 



GARDEN ACCESSORIES 

brought within doors. From some Chinese mis- 
sion station came the nest of bucket-shaped bas- 
kets woven of coarsely spHt strips of an unfamiliar 
wood and stained dark brown. These are, I 
understand, beyond our getting now; I shall, 
therefore, not describe them further than to say 
that their shape and lightness have combined to 
make them indispensable. And last, the little 
straw plates woven in North Carolina of a native 
grass are most desirable additions to garden fur- 
nishings, light, convenient, perfect for a few apples 
or clusters of grapes, and precisely what is needed 
when seedlings are to be transplanted, their tray- 
like proportions fitting them specially for carrying 
such objects as must all be seen at once. 

A clever little garden accessory has lately come 
to hand. This is called the Crossroads Bulb 
Planter. It is a light, round, wooden stake of 
some thirteen inches in length. The lower part 
of the stake is divided by lines burnt in the wood, 
lines to show the depths at which should be planted 
the narcissus, hyacinth, tulip, scilla, crocus, and 
anemone. 

While I know little as to garden-pest remedies 
beyond the universal ones common to all gardeners, 
the blight which has affected hardy phlox within 

187 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED <iARDEN 

the last few years has really affected my spirits 
too. Nothing is a greater raenace to August 
beauty in our gardens. It is therefore with par- 
ticular pleasure that I mention two kinds of pre- 
vention, one from no less a gardener than Mr. 
W. C. Egan. Mr. Egan advises the cutting off 
of all leaves immediately upon their showing signs 
of infection. These should be burned. The plants 
then are to be sprayed every ten days with Bor- 
deaux mixture until the blight disappears. The 
other remedy suggested by a friend who has tried 
it is a spray of X. L. All once each week from 
the time the leaves of phlox appear above ground. 
This is declared to be highly effective and I can 
from my own knowledge of this spray recommend 
it. In our own garden practically nothing more 
than this is used for roses or sweet peas. It routs 
the enemy quickly and completely, be he leaf- 
hopper, aphis, or that deadly worm known as the 
rose-slug, who in the twinkling of an eye changes 
a fine green rose-leaf into a white skeleton. 

So generally is the camera becoming a garden- 
ing accessory that a few considerations of its best 
use may not be amiss. Garden photography pre- 
supposes a trained eye — an eye trained first in 
proportion and line, next in composition. Is it not 

188 



GARDEN ACCESSORIES 

true that one's first decision in working with a 
camera whose area of exposed film is, say, four or 
five inches must be this: Shall the picture be on 
lines horizontal or fines perpendicular? To take 
the most obvious iUustration: tall spruces or pop- 
lars cry aloud for a perpendicular framing of line; 
apple-trees, round masses of shrubbery, for the 
horizontal. So in using the camera in the formal 
garden — a bit of high waU, tall cedars perhaps 
against it, there is your photographic instruction, 
your perpendicular hint most evident; Hlies, fox- 
glove, hollyhocks in groups suggest the same plan, 
while reaches of little spring flowers photographed 
for detail always need the horizontal position of 
the plate or film, with, what is to me pecufiarly 
interesting, a high horizon line, well above the 
centre of the plate. Round masses of phloxes, 
Shasta daisies, usually mean the horizontal posi- 
tion likewise. All depends upon the character of 
the subjects to be photographed. In getting pic- 
tures of whole gardens, too, the good photographer 
always considers the general proportions. True, 
if the height of garden subjects seems to exceed 
the breadth, the perpendicular position is the only 
one; if vice versa, the horizontal. It is not often 
possible to photograph one's garden in its entirety, 

189 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

and fortunatelj' so; for where in the actual gar- 
den would be our garden mysteries, our garden 
surprises, as we walk and gaze ? 

A knowledge on the part of the amateur of some 
of these principles of drawing and composition is 
the first requirement for successful picture-making 
in the garden. Amateurs there are who can do 
full justice in black and white to their lovely gar- 
dens, in whose productions is suggestion of color, 
too, equally and unmistakably delightful. Others 
miss the whole spirit of the beauty before them 
for lack of knowledge of these simple basic prin- 
ciples. Indeed, I am wishing to go a step far- 
ther and say that I believe we all know gifted 
amateurs addicted to the camera who quite un- 
consciously make out more beauty in their gar- 
dens and their goodly walks than actually is 
therein. And how legitimate this is! — the art 
which can so select and transmute is in itseK a 
wonderful possession. 



190 



XIV 



GARDENING EXPEDIENTS 



"As midsummer approaches the energies of the gar- 
dener must be directed towards keeping the garden at a 
high level of excellence, and this can only be done by 
unceasing care and attention." 

— "Saturday in my Garden," Faething. 



XIV 

GARDENING EXPEDIENTS 

TNGENUITY can nowhere be better exercised 
•*- than in the garden art. Small ways of im- 
proving, ingenious methods of doing, often result 
in benefit quite out of proportion to the amount 
of effort employed. Let the gardener ever keep 
his eye open to all that he sees going on about 
him. A valuable lesson crops out in a least prom- 
ising spot. The treatment of a bit of turf before 
the electric power-house in our own town gave 
me a suggestion of great excellence for mowing. 
This grass was cut often during spring and early 
summer, and always twice over whenever the 
mower was used, first in an easterly and westerly 
direction, next time north and south; the grass 
never allowed to grow long enough to form a 
visible mulch when cut, except in midsummer 
when such a mulch formed a protection from 
burning suns. Of all this I took careful note, 
and our own mowing operations have been car- 
ried on in similar fashion. Where, however, there 

193 



THE ^YELL-COXSIDERED GARDEN 

is a larger expanse of grass to keep in order, we 
mow east and west one day, and a day or so later 
north and south; but never under any circum- 
stances, in our dry cHmate,, make use of a grass- 
catcher. 

'When sudden clouds darken a hot June sky, 
the gardener and I, taking plenty of twine or 
raffia, hurriedly tie into sheaves the taller and 
more delicate flower-stems such as delphiniums, 
Canterbury bells, pyrethrums, physostegias, and 
taller phloxes, and other especially precious things. 
Taller or shorter stakes are hastily driven in, and 
this support and close tj-ing has saved for us 
many a raceme and panicle of later bloom. I 
commend this plan as excellent, particularly if one's 
Garden Club is expected on the following day and 
the hostess's heart sickens before the possible dev- 
astation by wind and rain. 

Flower cutting is a subject by itself and one 
not frankly enough discussed. It may be — ^it con- 
stantly is — done wastefuUy, and there is not among 
us a true gardener who would wilhngly waste a 
flower. It may be done too sparingly, and, to 
my thinking, sparing the garden shears spoils the 
garden more quickly than the proverbial rod the 
child. After years of cutting, certain habits be- 

194 



GARDENING EXPEDIENTS 

come instinctive, and these I will give as numbered 
suggestions. 

First: If your cutting is done in a formal gar- 
den, give a comprehensive look at the whole 
before taking up your basket and shears. If it is 
a question of which matters more to you, your 
house or your garden, always consider the garden. 
Notice where flowers are spindling up, where a 
ragged spot exists, where bloom is so luxuriant as 
to injure the effect, where the blessed require- 
ments of balance should be looked after. In the 
case of overluxuriance of bloom, a constant hap- 
pening, the plant which is advertised as being 
"covered with flowers" is considered by discrimi- 
nating gardeners as either a monstrosity or a 
curiosity. I have no doubt that a painter of 
gardens such as Mr. George Elgood insists upon 
cutting away a bit here, a mass of color there, 
before placing his easel in final position for the 
painting of the delicious garden pictures for which 
he is renowned. Wealth of bloom ! When shall 
we learn that this is a phrase which seldom or 
never leads to beauty? Not in quantity dwell 
the best joys of gardening ! The advantage in the 
idea of too many flowers lies in the fact that here 
we have material for picture-making by skilled 

195 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

and judicious cutting. TOio does not love to so 
attenuate the rambler rose over the good gateway 
by taking out here and there a cane, as to leave 
it a characteristic climbing one, throwing its 
lovely garlands lightly over their support and per- 
mitting all the beauties of stem, thorn, leaf, and 
flower to be clearly seen and gratefully enjoyed ? 

Second: If cutting for your own or another's 
table, take your freshest and finest; if for use in 
a church, a crowded hall, or other public place, 
it has always seemed to me true flower economy, 
and perfect fairness too, justice with generosity 
to every one, to cut such flowers as may have but 
a day or two more of life, and which will be fresh 
and effective for the time in which they must be 
exposed to that arch-enemy of flowers, close and 
overheated air. My own experience is that by 
observing some of these simplest rules a garden 
is never touched by the shears without ensuing 
improvement. Discordant colors are quickly re- 
moved, combined in one's basket or jar with 
flowers of tones to quiet and enhance them, and 
thus two are the gainers — the garden and the 
receiver of the flowery gift. 

And now for brief mention of a minor conve- 
nience of mine for recording spring or fall orders 

196 



GARDENING EXPEDIENTS 

of plants or bulbs. Taking a strip of heavy manila 
paper twenty-four inches long and four deep, I 
fold it to open after the manner of those small 
books of so-called "views" which one can buy 
at any watering-place here or abroad, making a 
crease at every two and three-quarters inches, 
which secures eight pages at once. On each of 
these pages I paste a sheet of writing-paper torn 
from a small block of about the size of the page. 
The book then, with the addition of a gummed 
label for title affixed to outside of upper cover, is 
ready for use. The advantage of such a trifle is 
that by taking each end of the little note-book at 
once and moving the hands in opposite directions, 
the whole inner surface of notes lies open at once 
before one. Each spring and fall I make a fresh 
book of this type. I find it an immeasurable help 
where time is precious. Now my bills or invoices 
may be left indoors instead of proving fluttering 
anxieties in the garden ! 

Of the little kneeling-mat I use, I would like to 
say one word. It is an oblong mat, dark crimson 
in color, and is made of nothing more nor less 
than two thicknesses of woollen-plush covering 
from an old "Shaker" chair. This mat might 
in one way be better. Its color might be a bit 

197 



THE WELL-COXSIDERED GARDEN 

brighter, so that the small convenience should be 
more easily discernible on the grass before a border, 
or between the beds of a garden. I would suggest 
a bright blue or a yellow. Aside from this, the 
little arrangement is very perfect for its purpose. 
Soft, thick, and hght, it is the faithful compan- 
ion for all seasons when planting, transplanting, or 
cultivating is the order of the day. 

For carrying flowers, if baskets happen to be 
less conveniently at hand than usual, or where 
it might prove a burden to the flower-recipient 
to have to return baskets, I often cut double 
sheets of hea\y wrapping-paper into a roughly 
graceful shape of some picturesque arching basket 
which is in my memorj^, leaving two strips at top 
for handle. These strips are fastened together 
by pins at their ends, the sides of the papers are 
joined in the same manner, and the whole pressed 
gently open from within, when a practical and 
satisfactory receptacle is created for holding and 
keeping cool the stems. 

Frosts, with us, are due in early September. 
Hehotropes are apt to blacken then, Japanese 
anemones to receive that baptism of cold from 
which they do not recover. To offset such di- 
minishings of the garden's color, I keep hidden 

198 



GARDENING EXPEDIENTS 

away back of some white spruces a number of 
pots of the good geranium Mrs. E. G. Hill, 
whose color, according to Ridgway, is appropri- 
ately enough geranium pink. These, when set 
among the foliage of plants which have done their 
duty by the garden, give a look of gayety at once, 
and help enormously to prolong the feehng of 
summer which with each day becomes more dear. 
Miss Jekyll it surely was who first suggested this 
expedient, but I cannot at the moment give 
chapter and verse. 

Not long ago a delightful defense of the ge- 
ranium appeared in "The Point of View" in 
"Scribner's Magazine": "The truth of the mat- 
ter is, we can none of us get along without the 
geranium. Or, if we do, we all of us suffer the 
consequences of great empty crying holes in our 
flower-beds. We all know how it is. During 
May and June and part of July our gardens exult 
in crowded ranks of glory upon glory. Most of 
our temperamental flowers catch enthusiasm from 
one another and have their fling all together. 
The result is intoxicating while it lasts, but it is 
followed by a disheartening midsummer slump. 
Suddenly the mood changes, the petals fall, and 
the color and the fragrance are gone. As dull 

199 



r U E W ELL- C O X S I P E R E D C^, A Ex D E X 

and solxT as they were erewhile brilliant luid ani- 
mated, our irises, ptxmies, roses, foxgloves, lark- 
spurs, rvx^kets, present a monotonous sequenev of 
barren green leaves to our disappointed eyes. 
The hoj.x^ful annuals are not yet more than in 
dubious promise: the phlox and dahlias have 
hardly set their buds. The whole garden sutfers 
eclipse. 

**This is precisely the geranium's opportunity, 
and we are iis cruel as we are stupid if we deny it 
to her. She would only fain prevent an entire 
collapse and would gentlN* keep the g-arden's head 
above water until such time as it feels like swim- 
ming agaiu. She can do this as no one else can, 
blooming brightly and quietly here and there 
among the discouraged plants, keeping up general 
appearances, saving the gardener's self-respect 
when passing wayfarers pause to look over his 
fence in quest of the color which they have come 
to expect of him." 

Where shall we look for a stock of geraniums 
from which to choose our colors and our types? 
Xo farther than to Maryland, where frv>m "White 
Marsh Mr. Richard Vincent sends forth a list 
of hundreds of beautiful examples, single and 
double, i\y -leaved, plants with variegated foliage, 

200 



C; A R 1> K N I N G K X IMO i) I i: \ 'i^ S 

S(;v(;rj|.(tcrj vixnclhtH of sccntod-lcavod, one .so- 
called Rfgal [>chu-!^(>j\]uin,iui(\ nine caclu.s-flowfjjng 
geraniums. All Ujis is a rnr>s1, sumptuous Illus- 
trated list, a perfect Ireasure-hf^use for Ihose who 
I)]an gay color for their f>orders. On paw; 8 of 
this list is not only a geranium shown of loveliest 
delicate pink, Berthe de J^resilly by name, fjut 
immediately below this pir:ture is another with 
a really most happy use of geranium and sweet 
alyssum together, f do not stand for the copious 
use of Scarlet Bedder, no, not at all; hut who 
could not find a spot where Alpha with its lovely 
small blooms, not unlike a scarlet lychnis, might 
not be useful, or, near cream-white stock. Baron 
Grubbisch or Uosalda might not create a picture? 
In the geranium lies an almost untouched field of 
beautiful and practical resource for gardens. I 
am i>erhaps not too rash in saying that I believe 
most of us have not seen over ten varieties of 
this flower. We bring to any consideration of it 
a preconceived idea of ugly misuse. Why not de- 
vote a small portion of ground another season to 
trials of the geranium for uses of our own devis- 
ing? 

If, therefore, the geranium, being a garden 
standby and a garden adornment, may be called 

201 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

a garden expedient, as indeed it may, one other 
faithful flower may aspire to the hke honor. The 
zinnia has during these last years of gardening 
furor come into its own. Among all the charm- 
ing things for garden and for house it holds high 
place. If one buys, as has before been hinted, 
packets of seed of white and flesh-color only, 
almost all the softer tones of creamy white and 
pink, with often wonderfully arresting hues hardly 
describable, are forthcoming. A flower of splen- 
did form and substance, a flower of great rigidity 
of stem, a flower of generous freedom of bloom, 
a flower of the most fascinating decorative possi- 
bilities, where would my garden — my September 
garden — be without the zinnia ! 

As for other planting expedients, to my think- 
ing, none are better than that of alternate planting 
in the row. This, of course, is for formal effect. 
Two periods of bloom are so easily thus secured 
in practically the same spot. My first experi- 
ment in this matter was with Michaelmas daisies, 
early and late, as has been told in a former chap- 
ter; my next was with a close-set row of pent- 
stemon barbatus Torreyi and hardy phlox; the 
latest and most ambitious was with a border of 
spring flowers arranged with the idea of securing 

202 



GARDENING EXPEDIENTS 

much bloom and some beauty in a small given 
place. This, too, is fully described elsewhere. A 
note in a recent number of "The Garden Maga- 
zine" seemed to me full of practical possibiUties. 
It concerned a system of "planting-cards," and 
I will tell of these in the contributor's own words: 
"I cut cards of strong white pasteboard, mea- 
suring eight by twelve inches, and in the middle of 
the narrow side of these I put a loop of string for 
hanging. The back of the card is left blank so 
that garden notes and memoranda may be writ- 
ten there, and on the face of the card I paste the 
names of the vegetables to be planted and their 
cultural directions. These I obtain from the 
catalogues of the seedsman from whom I order 
my seeds. For example, with *Corn' I paste 
first their cultural directions, then under this the 
names and descriptions of the four varieties I 
intend planting, in the order of their earhness and 
lateness. By each variety I make a note in ink 
of the quantity of seed ordered and another note, 
* Plant every two weeks till July 15.' This is 
done for each kind of vegetable and toward the 
right I leave a margin of one and one-half inches 
on which to note the dates of sowings. These 
cards will not take the place of garden note-books 

203 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

or of systematic garden records, but have the 
advantage of costing nothing and of being ever 
ready." 

The writer prefaces this description of what 
seems a really useful, if slight, gardening expedi- 
ent by the remark that such cards save much 
time and trouble of a fine spring morning. They 
are ready to hand to a man who does garden 
work, and form an excellent reminder for oneself 
besides. I cannot see why such a little card ar- 
rangement might not be equally good for the 
recording of notes of flower-seed sowing as well 
as for that of seeds of vegetables. 



204 



XV 



THE QUESTION OF THE 
GARDENER 



The relation between gardener and employer is not 
an easy one, especially if the employer is a gardener him- 
self. There is apt to be a conflict of tastes ; and the better 
the gardener the more acute the conflict is likely to be. 

— "Studies in Gardening." 



XV 

THE QUESTION OF THE 
GARDENER 

**"r\0 write for me" — thus runs a letter lately 
-■— / from a clever friend — "a manual entitled, 
'The Gardener-less Garden,' telling how to get 
the most joy for the least trouble ! Or call it 
*The Lazy Gardener/ — I like to moon around 
in the garden and I do not want to meet the 
man with the hoe at every turn. Nor do I like 
to work very steadily myself, though I always 
think that I shall want to next year. 

" * Oh, what is life if, full of care. 

We have not time to stand and stare? ' " 

Still, a book on gardening in its varying aspects 
could hardly omit mention of that man who must 
be constantly in sight of those who garden, the 
gardener, the paid, the earnest, and almost always 
the friendly, assistant in our labors with flowers. 
That charming anonymous book, which appeared 
first in the form of letters to "The Times" (Lon- 

207 



THE WELL-COXSIDEEED GARDEN 

don\ "Studies in Gardening," has a chapter, and 
a capital one, which I would commend, and it is 
called "Behavior to Gardeners." The few para- 
graphs I shall commit to paper on the subject 
will deal partly with this matter, the employer's 
attitude, and partly with the question of salary 
or wages; in the latter case taking the gardener's 
own standpoint. 

It has often gone to my heart as a worker 
among flowers to see the misunderstandings which 
all too frequently arise between an American and 
his gardener. And so often this is entirely due 
to the diiference in temperament. The average 
gardener, slow, careful, methodical, cannot but 
feel the heckling comments of his employer who 
wants things done in his way, yet who, in nine 
cases out of ten, does not know what that way 
is. The gardener must recognize and resent igno- 
rance, haste, prejudice, and excessive criticism, and 
particularly is this hard to bear because as a rule 
the gardener loves his work, cherishes his plants, 
and, to his credit be it said, does this more faith- 
fully and thoroughly than the untrained gardener 
for whom he labors. 

To take up the other side, for the employer it 
should be set down that he may himseK be a 

£08 



THE GARDENER 

good amateur gardener, coupling to this an im- 
aginative ingenuity which I hke to think a char- 
acteristic of Americans; and the lack of imagina- 
tion, the dumb devotion to traditional methods 
of gardening whose outward and visible signs he 
cannot but observe on each visit to his garden, 
go hard with him. It has been my lot to see 
in several cases employer and gardener antag- 
onistic, and the best interest of an estate lan- 
guishing under such conditions. One must be 
friends with one's gardener. I venture to assert 
that no great degree of success can be reached 
with flowers unless such is the happy case. Take 
note of a man's personality, of his temperament, 
when next you have occasion to decide upon the 
vital figure for your garden. If the candidate 
be not "simpatico, " know that your garden can- 
not with him be carried happily, successfully along. 
That was a refreshing instance of friendship be- 
tween master and man shown in an anecdote of 
the great London flower exhibition, the Chelsea 
Show of May, 1912, and pleasant it is to repeat 
it here: 

**What a true aristocrat is, was forcibly illus- 
trated the other day by an incident concerning 
the speech of Sir George Holford, who won the 

209 



THE ^YELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

King's prize for orchids at the London show, and 
who, at the Royal Horticultural Society's dinner 
later,, deprecated the great praise given him, say- 
ing that his friend Mr. Alexander deserved most 
of the credit. Mr. Farquhar met him the next 
day and compHmented him on that portion of his 
speech. Sir George said: *He is my friend; I 
never think of him otherwise.' The point of this 
illustration lies in the fact that Mr. Alexander is 
the baron's gardener; but the baron never thought 
of referring to that fact in his speech. He spoke 
of him as his friend." 

This, more remarkable where class distinctions 
are rigorously observed, has timely bearing upon 
the relations of master and man in our country 
too. But here consideration and respect are not 
always lacking. One of my friends, an indefati- 
gable worker on her own place, with her gardener, 
had spent the months of August, September, and 
October in rearranging much of the tree and shrub 
planting on her large place, moving hundreds of 
coniferous subjects in that time. Through all the 
arduous work — and who does not know the nerv- 
ous strain upon those who dig and hft, and those 
who watch with interest, while an evergreen 
travels from one spot to another .^ — through all 

^10 



THE GARDENER 

this time the young Scotch gardener's solicitude 
and anxious effort never flagged. The season 
waxed late, weather remained fine, and the chat- 
elaine felt that there was still time to move other 
trees, her mind's eye full of visions. But it oc- 
curred to her that the gardener should now be 
given a modicum of rest from his monotonous 
labor, that as the fit reward of diligence the word 
evergreen should not again that season reach his 
ear, and this reflection was at once acted upon. 
Often, I believe, is such consideration shown to 
the men who are our daily companions and co- 
workers in our gardens and without whom, where 
large gardening operations are concerned, we 
should be lost indeed. 

To paraphrase the Johnsonian dictum, much 
may be made of a gardener if he be caught young. 
The amateur who works constantly among his or 
her flowers has an ideal in his mind: a young, 
strong, willing man, an intelligent man, one who 
shall be quick not only to carry out his employer's 
wishes but to study the tastes and doings of the 
garden's owner, to learn to imitate them that he 
may do successfully in that master's absence. In 
the good professional gardener I have perhaps 
fancied that I noticed a certain gentleness of de- 

211 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

meanor, caught, I like to think, from the dehcate 
and care-taking occupation in which he is daily 
engaged. Surprises, however, may come at any 
moment — witness the reply of our young Ameri- 
can farmer, John, who gardens with zeal and ever- 
growing knowledge and gives me a service which 
is perfection for its place. John had just returned 
from a week's vacation. I was most truly glad 
to see him back, and said so, adding: "I missed 
you very much last week, John." To my entire 
confusion, John, without a trace of a smile, look- 
ing me directly in the eye, said with the simplic- 
ity of a child and without the least discourtesy: 

"I bet you did, Mis' K !" 

Gardeners, according to a classijBcation given me 
by an expert, should be divided into their several 
grades as follows : 1. Gardener-superintendent. 2. 
Head gardener. 3. Working gardener. 4. Coach- 
man gardener. Whose respective executive duties 
are: 

1. Has charge of the whole estate and with fore- 
men and assistants over the different departments 
of greenhouse, garden, farm, and so on. 

2. Has charge of greenhouses and garden only, 
with foremen and assistant; does no physical work. 

3. Does most of the work himself with laborers 

212 



THE GARDENER 

and takes care of small greenhouse, kitchen garden, 
and lawn. 

4. Coachman first, gardener at odd times. 

While the immigration laws of the United States 
classify the gardener as a personal body-servant, 
and his admission to this country is free from 
restrictions, in England he is not looked upon as 
such. He is the gardener in all senses of the word, 
and in no well-regulated establishment would the 
employer take the liberty of gathering flowers, 
fruit, or vegetables without the consent of the 
gardener. Unfortunately, in the United States 
the majority of gardeners are looked upon as in- 
ferior to the chauffeur and the cook. The Amer- 
ican gardener, or rather the gardener employed 
on American estates, in many instances is the su- 
perintendent of the whole, including the farm and 
dwelling or mansion; his salary in a few cases 
being equal to three thousand dollars per year, 
with many privileges. 

From the same authority to whom I am indebted 
for the classification of the gardener comes also 
the following opinion, which I quote verbatim: 

"We are unfortunate in this country, not hav- 
ing botanic gardens and gardens carried on like 
the Royal Horticultural Society in England, where 

213 



THE WELL-CONSIDEKED GARDEN 

the young gardener is taught the thorough, prac- 
tical work of the gardener and goes through all 
departments, even to the menial ^York of digging, 
attending to furnaces, etc. In England the gar- 
dener has to pay an apprenticeship to the head 
gardener on some estates. After he has served 
an apprenticeship to the head, he becomes an as- 
sistant, then journeyman, then foreman. So he 
must have at least ten or fifteen years of thorough 
experience before he becomes head gardener. The 
trouble with the American gardener is that he is 
a speciahst either in roses, carnations, or orchid- 
growing, and has not the all-around knowledge 
of the European trained gardener. 

"You cannot get an assistant gardener in this 
country to-day for much less than fifty-five dol- 
lars to sixty dollars per month and board. I 
mean an assistant in a large garden, where they 
specialize in fruit-trees, rose-growing, carnations, 
orchids, palms and foliage plants, and kitchen 
garden. 

"This, you see, is far better than some wages paid 
to gardeners, I do not think the average wages 
paid to a gardener in this country would be equal 
to one hundred dollars per inontli. In many in- 
stances this is the fault of the gardener himself. 



THE GARDENER 

Most places that I know of are where gardeners 
have made themselves valuable and created the 
place. I have in mind at least two instances 
where gardeners were employed at sixty dollars 
per month and are now getting as high as one 
hundred and fifty dollars per month; this all 
happening inside of five years.'* 

The question of the gardener's worth in money 
is surely to be considered as an important one 
to both sides. A discussion of this matter has 
lately taken place with a rather unusual freedom 
of speech in the columns of one of our best horti- 
cultural weeklies; and it may be of interest to 
quote here from some of these arguments. One 
writer, himself taking the words of a former Sec- 
retary of the Treasury of the United States, be- 
gins thus: "*In every profession which uses a 
man's highest powers and lays rigid demand on 
his idealism and courage it is always safe to as- 
sume that up to a certain point these men can 
be overworked and underpaid, because they are 
much more concerned with doing their work well 
than with being well paid for it. But when this 
imposition begins to reduce them and their fami- 
lies to poverty, they do not, as do workmen lower 
in the scale, go on strikes. They quietly resign 

215 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

and seek some other occupation. It is a com- 
monplace among professions in which idealism 
plays a part: this idealism is deliberately exploited 
to the disadvantage of those of whom it is exacted.' 
This, I think, meets the gardener's case exactly, 
and, so long as conditions are as they are, garden- 
ing must necessarily be a labor of love." 

Now hear another, this time on the practical 
side: "The burning question seems to be how to 
get away from the fifty-dollars-a-month salary 
limit. There is no getting away from it so long 
as people of wealth are willing to hire a laborer 
who calls himself a gardener, at that price. The 
remedy, to my mind, is to start a campaign of 
education among the people who are wealthy 
enough to hire a real gardener and show them 
by facts, figures, and statistics that they are losing 
money by not doing so. A good gardener is worth 
anywhere from one hundred dollars up — just by 
the same process of reasoning that one would 
employ in engaging a lawyer or doctor. 

"The larger the estate, the more the responsibil- 
ity. The larger the responsibility, the higher the 
salary. If a good man is squeezed down to taking 
less than he is worth, the greater the temptation 
to make something on the side. If a poor man, 

216 



THE GARDENER 

that is, an Ignorant man willing to take laborer's 
wages, is hired, then the estate will suffer not 
only in that, but in many other ways. So that 
it is the employing class that the campaign of 
education should be aimed at. It will do no 
good to scold the seedsman or other allied inter- 
ests; nor to split the ceiling in gardeners' meetings 
about the villainy of those fifty-dollar fellows call- 
ing themselves gardeners. One hundred dollars 
should be the minimum, and two hundred, three 
hundred, five hundred, or even more should not be 
considered anything out of the way if the train- 
ing, experience, and native ability be present. But 
the employers have to be educated up to that." 

I would not go so far as to say with the writer 
just quoted that four and five hundred a month 
should be given even to a fine superintendent. 
Proportions should be maintained, salaries of the 
learned professions kept in mind. Still, I person- 
ally believe that one hundred dollars a month is 
the least that should be offered by those whose 
fortune fits them to employ an excellent profes- 
sional gardener. 

In all these words, the subject of the gardener, 
his salary or wages, and his position, has been only 
begun. It is a matter which with the ever-in- 

217 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

creasing Interest in gardens must and will be more 
and more discussed; and in which the gardener's 
side must be better looked after by his employer 
than at present seems to be the case. ''And if 
the reply of an alarmed employer might be that 
all this means higher wages, our reply is, first, that 
after all it is very httle; and secondly, that the 
garden must be looked at in a new perspective, 
not as a tiresome and costly appurtenance every 
penny spent upon which is begrudged, while thou- 
sands are to be lavished on pictures, old china, 
and motor-cars, but as a great influence on life." 
There is reasoning here as cogent as it is vig- 
orous; I fully agree with this writer, and the more 
so when I think of the disproportionate use of 
money by those who would keep down the wages 
of the men engaged for their gardens; for those 
labors which go to produce what is becoming 
daily more and more precious to men and women 
in this age. Let us who think seriously of these 
things not only learn to value the services of our 
own gardeners more fully, but let us spread our 
convictions upon the subject, and soon must come 
a better understanding and agreement between 
employer and employed. 



218 



XVI 



NECESSITIES AND LUXURIES 
IN GARDEN BOOKS 



"What then I say is this, that we ignoramuses who 
know very little about it can derive a pure pleasure, not 
merely from the contemplation of gardens, but from the 
reading of books about them." 

— Preface to "The Scots Gard'ner," Lord Rosebery. 



XVI 

NECESSITIES AND LUXURIES 
IN GARDEN BOOKS 

BIBLIOGRAPHIES are dull things ~ true, too, 
of many necessities, and I make no apology, 
to those who care for gardening, while dwelling 
for a little on garden books. What would winter 
be without them? "Summer," as the delightful 
David Grayson remarks, "is for activities; winter 
for reading." So it seems to the true gardener! 
His mental gardening is done while snow is flying, 
leaving the physical to be carried out as twigs 
begin to bud and grass to green again. 

The very watchword of an American gardener's 
winter — the slogan, I might almost call it — should 
be, "Look it up in Bailey." As the Irish judge 
remarked, "I yield to no one in my ignorance of 
scientific horticulture," therefore there would be 
no sense in my trying to garden without Bailey's 
Encyclopedia at my elbow. The six volumes 
are indispensable, filled with wonderful horticul- 
tural learning, yet not too technical for the begin- 

221 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

ner. Bailey, too, is an absolutely American book, 
published altogether for this country, with cul- 
tural information for our varying climates of 
North, South, and West, containing marvellously 
fine articles by specialists. Professor Sargent 
writes on the genus Abies; Mr. Groff, of Ontario, 
on the gladiolus; Doctor Fernow on forestry; and 
so on. 

Yes, in the matter of books necessary to garden 
knowledge, Bailey is undoubtedly the keystone 
of the garden arch. Every other book may go — 
this cannot. And, the arch thus firmly held to- 
gether, let us proceed to decorate it appropriately 
by mentioning as our second necessary book 
Miss Jekyll's masterpiece, "Color in the Flower 
Garden." Given these two publications, any in- 
telligent man or woman with time, money, and 
the wish to do it need have nothing ugly in their 
gardens. This is rather narrowing the matter 
down, I admit, but I feel strongly that these are 
the words of truth and soberness, and I believe 
there are many who will concur in this opinion. 
Bailey furnishes us the sound knowledge, the 
structure for gardening. Miss Jekyll — who bet- 
ter ? — provides the structure with a more ex- 
quisite and carefully considered garnishment than 

222 



GARDEN BOOKS 

has ever to my knowledge been given before by 
man or woman. With her ingratiating pen, too, 
she is so happy in creating pictures that the gar- 
den-lover cannot choose but hear and, what is 
more, follow in the lovely flowery path. Can 
anything surpass the beauty of description of the 
various gardens at Munstead Wood in the "Color 
in the Flower Garden," or the charm of the pho- 
tographic reproductions used to illustrate.? Yet 
there is something here better than beauty; there 
is suggestion which amounts to inspiration — Miss 
Jekyll has the faculty of setting all sorts of plans 
going in one's head as one reads what she writes; 
and I will venture to say that most of her readers 
in this country do not attempt to copy slavishly 
her ideas but use them as points of departure 
for their own plantings. Miss Jekyll has suc- 
ceeded not only in so charmingly showing us what 
she has planned and accompHshed in her Surrey 
garden, but in giving a great impulse toward the 
finest art of gardening — gardening as a fine art. 
We hear it said: "Miss Jekyll's books are writ- 
ten for England, and the Enghsh climate and con- 
ditions." Yes; but here is Bailey to set one 
straight culturally for one's own spot in America; 
and it is truly surprising to notice the increasing 

223 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

numbers of plants which are perfectly suited to 
both England and the L^nited States. 

And here, since Miss Jekyll's name is con- 
stantly appearing and reappearing in current 
gardening literature in this country, it may be 
interesting to say that "Color in the Flower 
Garden" is one of eight books from Miss Jekyll's 
pen issued within nine years' time. The others 
are: "Wood and Garden," "Home and Garden," 
"Wall and Water Gardens," "Lilies for Enghsh 
Gardens," "Roses for English Gardens," "Flower 
Decoration in the House," and "Children and 
Gardens." In answer to questions on my part. 
Miss Jekyll quotes her publisher as saying, "I 
personally consider 'Color in the Flower Garden' 
is the most valuable book yet got out," and 
Miss Jekyll herself adds: "I also think 'Color 
in the Flower Garden' the most useful." Eight 
thousand copies of "House and Garden" have 
been printed, and twelve thousand of "Wood 
and Garden," and both books are now to be 
had in a cheaper edition than the original 
one. 

Now and again I am asked what I consider 
the best simple book for beginners in gardening. 
What a pleasure to have one to commend! It is 

224 



GARDEN BOOKS 

"The Seasons in a Flower Garden," by Miss 
Louise Shelton, of Morristown, N. J. I wish this 
book had been pubHshed twenty years ago — not 
five. It gives advice not only lucid and sound, 
but always looking toward good color arrange- 
ment, the very highest and finishing beauty of 
the garden. Here in a small volume may be 
found, admirably arranged, the first principles of 
good flower gardening. 

"Success in Gardening," by Miss Jessie Froth- 
ingham, of Princeton, is a book on the order of 
Miss Shelton's, and like hers it deserves a wide 
public. This, too, is to be commended to the 
inexperienced. From January to December gar- 
den work is suggested week by week and between 
the lines one sees much charming suggestion, the 
fruit of a long and sound experience on the part 
of the author. 

Mrs. Sedgwick's "The Garden Month by 
Month" is a capital addition to our garden lit- 
erature. Information here is in tabulated form 
— easy to get at, so well arranged and classified 
as to give at once facts as to any plant or bulb 
in general or even occasional cultivation. The 
pictures, as may be seen from the two here repro- 
duced, are, I believe, the most satisfying photo- 

225 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

graphs of flowers and flower groups ever published 
in this country. These illustrations in black and 
white — a process as yet better than any color- 
printing we can achieve here — are remarkably 
well done, and present the actual aspect of the 
blooming plant to far greater advantage than any 
collection of such photographs which I can at pres- 
ent call to mind. The beautiful photograph (facing 
page 110) of Bellis perennis and Narcissus poeticus 
ornatus does more than give a faithful representation 
of the two flowers — it suggests a lovely combina- 
tion for spring planting; and, in cut facing, notice 
the perfect placing of Baptisia australis on the water- 
side, with budding delphiniums beyond and sky-blue 
water to carry out the lovely blue-toned picture. 
(This planting, I am told however, is not as good 
as I thought it, as the color of Baptisia is too slaty 
in its blue to make a really good effect.) 

Of the color chart at the beginning of the book 
I cannot speak so highly since comparing it with 
the clear tones of the "Repertoire de Couleurs" of 
the Chrysanthemum Society of France. The at- 
tempt of Mrs. Sedgwick and her publishers in this 
direction was a laudable one, for here was a real 
need; but again, owing doubtless to the lack of 
facilities for color-printing, the result is mediocre 

226 




From " The Garden Month by Month " Bi/ courtesy of Finlcncl: 1 Stokes Company 
BAPTISIA AUSTRALIS 



GARDEN BOOKS 

only. I remember, when this book appeared, how 
eagerly I wished for it because of the new and 
valuable color chart. And it was a disappoint- 
ment to have to fall back again upon the French 
publication. 

An American color chart which has been warmly 
received by those interested in this matter of 
proper naming of colors is Doctor Robert Ridg- 
way's "Color Standards and Color Nomenclature," 
a convenient and beautifully arranged chart, a 
boon to the lover of accurate color description of 
flowers — a rather costly book, too costly for the 
general public; therefore it will be good news to 
many that a small edition of this chart is now 
in course of preparation, to be offered at a mod- 
erate price. When this is done, the first impor- 
tant step taken in America toward this highly im- 
portant matter to the American gardener will 
have been accomplished. 

Among luxuries in garden books must be set 
down an imposing volume containing some price- 
less suggestions concerning color arrangement by 
Miss Margaret Waterfield, of England — "Gar- 
den Color." Here I first learned of certain beau- 
tiful tulips used separately or in lovely combina- 
tions described in Miss Waterfield's own chapters 

227 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

in the book; and on buying these the results 
were to my eye precisely what they were to 
hers — a satisfaction that is nothing short of 
enchanting. Miss Waterfield's own water-color 
sketches, reproduced in her book for purposes of 
illustration, are in some cases valuable too to 
the gardener who would create pictures as he 
gardens. Her manner of planting seems always 
to me that of an artist and these drawings from 
her hand confirm that impression. 

A little volume of totally different character, 
but full of meat for a reader interested in these 
things, is the recently published "Spring Garden- 
ing at Belvoir Castle," by Mr. W. H. Divers, 
head gardener to the Duke of Rutland. Writ- 
ten in alarmingly dull style, it is still a mine of 
riches for the amateur who tries for spring ef- 
fects; for certain violas and primroses, aubrietas, 
arabises do quite as well in this country as in 
England, and, I believe, nearly all tulips and daf- 
fodils. These are the flowers most important in 
the plantings at Belvoir Castle and, wonderful to 
relate, the color descriptions of individual flowers 
by Mr. Divers seem to be as accurate as Miss 
Jekyll's own. This is a remarkable thing; but 
just here the remarkableness of this little book 

228 



GARDEN BOOKS 

ceases for me, for the clear photographs with 
which it is thickly sprinkled show the most inane 
and tiresome arrangement of flowers possible to 
conceive, carpet-bedding gone mad. Piteous to 
see measured bands of these delicious flowers, 
mats of aubrietas studded with single tulip jewels 
in geometric arrangements, and one horror called 
a "raised flower-bed" in which the same out-of- 
date planting is practised. At Belvoir Castle, to 
make it worse, a rare chance is surely given by 
the great variety of graded slopes apparent in the 
pictures for much picturesque informal planting. 

The mention of daffodils turns our attention 
to two small but important books on this most 
fashionable flower. England seems daffodil-mad 
to-day; and as we are far behind the mother 
country in "gardening finely," yet always looking 
to her for sound advice, we shall probably soon 
catch the fever. In fact, some of us think we 
have symptoms now. 

The valuable book for the daffodilist is the 
monograph, "Daffodils," by the Reverend Joseph 
Jacobs, of England, in that set of books, "Present 
Day Gardening." In these pages all that is 
known concerning daffodils up to date is con- 
densed, set down by a true lover of the flower, 

229 



THE WELL-COXSIDERED GARDEN 

and not only a great grower of the daffodil, but 
an accomplisiied writer and authority on the sub- 
ject, as well as one in constant demand as a judge 
at the English and Continental daff'odil shows. 
No possessors of this book need to waste time 
or money in the purchase of a poor variety of 
daffodil, if they consult Mr. Jacobs's chapter, 
"Varieties for Garden Beds and Borders.'' For 
prices of these, if one has at hand Barr & Sons' daf- 
fodil Ust (to be had for the asking), which Mr. 
Jacobs calls unique in its position in the daffodil 
world, there should be no mistake made by the 
gardener who would make an excursion into the 
wondrous world of yellow, cream, lemon, and 
orange flowers. Perianth and trumpet become 
terms of intensest interest, and I can testify from 
a short experience that once the daff'odil catches 
the attention of the amateur gardener he never 
lets go. Indeed, his hold grows ever stronger 
with successive Mays. 

Two other Englishmen, novelists of repute, 
have given us their gardening experiences in de- 
HghtfuUy written volumes. Mr. Rider Haggard's 
"A Gardener's Year" makes charming reading, 
but is a trifle orchidaceous for one who, hke my- 
self, has not yet dared to ''let go" in that direc- 

230 



GARDEN BOOKS 

tion. Beware of orchids unless the purse is full. 
Mr. Eden Philpotts brings all the beauty of his 
poetic style to bear upon the subject of "My 
Garden," thus deliciously prefacing his book: 
"The time has come when, to have a garden, and 
not to write about it, is to be notorious." Let 
me commend the three chapters on the iris in this 
fascinating book to the attention of all iris-lovers. 
There never has been, there never can come from 
another pen, so poetic, so beautiful a bit of writing 
on this alluring flower. Done in entrancing lan- 
guage, it tempts the most unyielding to become 
an iris-collector. I myself, on reading these de- 
scriptions, felt so deep a debt of gratitude to Mr. 
Philpotts for them, and for the pleasure which 
for years back had been given me by his Dev- 
onshire tales, that I experienced a real delight 
when the following request caught my eye: 
"Many new and exquisite vines may now be ob- 
tained, and among lovely things that I am open 
to receive from anybody (and will pay carriage) 
are Vitis Thunhergii ; Vitis Calif ornica, a tremen- 
dous grower; Vitis aconitifolia, a gem from China; 
and Vitis megajphyllay most distinct of all arrivals 
in this family." 

My heart leaped with joy as I thought: "Is it 

231 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

possible that I, even I, may contribute to Mr. 
Philpotts's garden?" Promptly flew out my let- 
ters to Massachusetts, to Texas — in quest of the 
grapes. Answers showed that at least one of 
them could be mine for the asking and a httle 
besides; but before I had actually ordered the 
plant, as good luck would have it, I happened 
upon the following passage in *'My Garden," un- 
seen heretofore: "Green corn is a pleasant vege- 
table, and I surprise Americans who come to see 
me, by giving them that familiar dish. Let them 
have but that and ice, and a squash pie, and they 
ask no more, but to be allowed to talk about 
themselves and their noble country." Needless to 
say that, in so far as I can achieve it, Mr. Eden 
Philpotts has gone, goes, and shall go grapeless. 

FaciHties for procuring new varieties of flower- 
ing plants, new colors, in this country are notice- 
ably improving. Witness each fresh issue of 
American seed and bulb lists. One firm in this 
country offered last spring for the first time, as 
far as my experience goes, roots of Cantab, the 
lovely blue delphinium which Miss Jekyll con- 
siders the best of all blues, and which has been 
difficult to find in any hst, English or American. 
Another has a separate list of rare and charming 

232 



GARDEN BOOKS 

(alas, I must also add high-priced!) things; such 
published straws show the direction of the horti- 
cultural breeze. May this breeze become a wind 
strong enough to bear to us interested in the best 
development of gardening in America books by 
our own amateurs so delightfully and intelligently 
written that what is there set down shall help the 
matter with every page. 

To return again to catalogues for a moment — 
two or three American lists show great care and 
constant improvement in this direction, but none 
as yet, I believe, quite approach those of R. 
Wallace and Sons, of Colchester, England; of 
Barr & Sons; of T. Smith, of Newry, Ireland. 
Smith's list of spring-blooming plants and al- 
pines is of immense value to all as a little refer- 
ence-book, complete botanically and with admi- 
rable descriptions of color. 

Misleading pictures appear to this day in some 
of our seed-lists — the beribboned curving drive 
through an estate; the copious and vicious use of 
some of the early tulips such as Keizerkroon (whose 
publicly declared enemy I am and shall be until 
it is better used); the round bed which, as an 
agreeable man of my acquaintance says, "used to 
bust up the front lawn." All these things are still 

233 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

forced upon the innocent and ignorant and much 
do I wish that a seed and bulb Hst might be given 
us in which there should not be a single actual 
error of taste in suggestion, even though that 
taste could not meet the wishes of all readers. 

Under luxuries in garden books falls a group 
whose contents are an addition to letters as well 
as to gardening. How rare and choice these are, 
and what a pity that all books on so beautiful a 
topic cannot be beautiful in themselves, I mean 
in their manner of writing! When such do fall 
in our way we have very real reason for thanks- 
giving, and first in my own affections always stand 
the writings of the Honorable Mrs. Boyle, "E. 
V. B." — those books 

"whose names 
Are five sweet symphonies " — 

"A Garden of Pleasure," ''The Peacock's Pleas- 
aunce," "Sylvana's Letters to an Unknown 
Friend," "Seven Gardens and a Palace" — ^prose 
as beautiful as any poetry, wandering on over 
page after page, all on the delectable matter of 
flowers; and in A. F. Sieveking's book a "Proem" 
from the same golden pen, which for charm and 
grace exceeds all that I have ever read on gar- 
dening. It is my fixed belief that the more we 

234 



GARDEN BOOKS 

read books of this high quahty the more beauti- 
fully shall we garden. 

To return for a moment to books of the kind 
and type of Miss Waterfield's — the two or three 
others which come to mind are Elgood's and Miss 
Jekyll's *'Some English Gardens"; Sir Herbert 
Maxwell's *' Scottish Gardens"; "Houses and 
Gardens," by Baillie-Scott. To read these books, 
to study their most charming pictures, is not 
only to revel in their own beauty, but to be well 
started on the way to achieving one's own. Every 
illustration in "Some English Gardens" gives 
practical suggestion of a principle of beauty, and 
with the illuminating text the several lessons are 
complete. I would rename this book, and "Per- 
fect Gardens" is the daring title I should bestow 
upon it. 

For books whose color illustrations are worth 
possessing, books on flowers of other lands than 
England, the lovely volume by the Du Cane sis- 
ters is always good to open — "Flowers and Gar- 
dens of Japan." Full of charm, too, are Flemwell's 
"Alpine Flowers and Gardens of Japan," and 
"The Flower Fields of Alpine Switzerland," with 
pictures finely reproduced from beautiful originals. 
"Dutch Bulbs and Gardens," by Nixon, Silberrad, 

235 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

and Lyall, is a book full of character and beauty 
and of special interest to the spring gardener. 

Of finer books for those interested in garden 
design are Mr. Guy Lowell's "American Gardens" 
and T. W. Mawson's ''The Art and Craft of 
Garden-Making." Two volumes of less size but 
of much value are Reginald Blomfield's "The 
Formal Garden in England" (whose brilliant first 
chapter refuting some of the Robinsonian doc- 
trines is greatly to my liking !) and Miss Madeline 
Agar's "Garden Design," a very practical recent 
book. William Robinson's great book, "The Eng- 
lish Flower Garden," has its place, and has ful- 
filled, indeed over-fulfilled, its purpose to do away 
with "bedding out" and to return to natural 
methods of planting; but the extreme views there 
set forth, views necessary to convince a settled 
public, are better in theory than in practice. 

"Studies in Gardening," a book whose contents 
first appeared in the form of letters to the "Lon- 
don Times" (that journal strictly under promise 
not to reveal the name of the author) , is a remark- 
able book on gardening. Written in a direct and 
charming style, full of sound knowledge most 
tactfully imparted, it is valuable and captivating 
to a degree, and happy is the writer in whom these 

236 



GARDEN BOOKS 

qualities are combined. Unfortunately, this book 
is out of print. 

Of Mr. E. Augustus Bowles's two newly pub- 
lished volumes of the horticultural trilogy, "My 
Garden in Spring," "My Garden in Summer," 
and "My Garden in Autumn," I would echo the 
comment of an English journal: "We are loath to 
close the book, which every true gardener should 
read and read again. Like the author's garden, 
it is a 'thing of beauty and a joy forever.'" It 
is impossible not to be caught up by so strong a 
wave of enthusiasm for plants and the growing of 
them as sweeps along these pages. The writer's 
learning and his delight in his gardening pursuits 
are everywhere in evidence; yet all is so sponta- 
neously told that learning and delight are equally 
agreeable to the reader. There is in these books 
a true ecstasy in gardening. 

Before these of Mr. Bowles's there were a few 
such books — books carrying this quality of a 
spirit of joy in the work among flowers. Such is 
Mrs. Stephen Batson's "The Summer Garden of 
Pleasure," with such pretty chapter headings as 
"Incoming Summer," "High Summer," "The 
Rout of August," "Waning Summer." "The 
Guild of the Garden Lovers," by Constance 

237 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

O'Brien, is to me enchanting in its charm, though 
many serious-minded gardeners would think it 
but a trifle. "The Garden of Ignorance," by Mrs. 
George Cran, also has its diverting niche in my 
affections; and last Miss Chappell's tiny vol- 
umes, "Gardening Don'ts" and "More Gardening 
Don'ts," which I charge my readers not to miss, if 
they are of those who would be light-hearted as 
they garden ! 

So many are the books, so short the time for 
reading, even for naming, them ! Let me beg any 
reader of my lines to fill his shelves with fine gar- 
dening publications as eagerly as he would furnish 
his garden-beds with plants, that his borders may 
reflect a well-stocked mind and his pleasure in his 
flowers then increase a thousandfold. 



238 



XVII 



VARIOUS GARDENS 



"Others, again, amongst wliom I nnmber myself. love 
not only the lore of flowers, and the sight of them and the 
fragrance of them, and the growing of them, and the pick- 
ing of them and the arranging of them, but also inherit 
from Father Adam a natural relish for tilling the ground 
from whence they were taken and to which they shall 
return." 

— "Letters from a Little Garden," Juliana Hor.\il\ 

EWING. 



XVII 

VARIOUS GARDENS 

TF, on reflection, I have an ungratified wish in 
-*• gardening, it is the wish to Hve in a country 
where were many fine gardens within easy dis- 
tance from my own. There is no sight so stimu- 
lating to the gardener as that of other people's 
ways of growing and grouping flowers. Thus it 
is that horticultural societies make annual and 
semi-annual pilgrimage to fine gardens; amateurs 
will soon group themselves into such bands as 
these, garden clubs go forth bent upon searching 
out such lovely and informing sights. For many 
of us still, however, all our adventures, like those 
of the Vicar of Wakefield, must be by the fireside, 
all our travels from the blue bed to the brown. 
For these the photograph, the printed page, must 
serve for the charming sights themselves. 

This book began pianissimo with a rather hesi- 
tating account of my own attempts at gardening; 
it has continued crescendo as my experience 

241 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

seemed to broaden and pleasure certainly to in- 
crease in planting, working, and writing. And it 
ends, thanks to the goodness of stranger and 
friend alike, fortissimo and allegro too, with gar- 
den picture and garden sketch in writing, the latter 
intimate and fresh to a degree, since in most in- 
stances it is supplied by the garden's owner. It 
will be readily seen that these, like Sir Thomas 
More's Utopians, "sett great stoore be theyr 
gardeins." 

From East to West these gardens lie in a sort 
of dipping line across the continent, with the ex- 
ception of the Philadelphia example. But before 
setting forth on this horticultural journey, there 
are here to be noticed pictures of two gardens at 
a London flower show — one, though in an unfin- 
ished state when photographed, giving excellent 
suggestion in design; the other beautiful, rarely 
so, for its flower grouping. These were examples 
of fine gardening on exhibition at the International 
Show of 1912 in London by the English firm of 
Wallace & Company, of Colchester — at that 
show which will live in the history of horticulture 
as the largest and best ever held in Great Britain. 
The little sunken garden carries with it a quiet 
charm of line and proportion. Perhaps the dry 

242 




GARDEN AT LONDON FLOWER SHOW OF 1912 




DETAIL OF ANOTHER GARDEN AT LONDON FLOWER SHOW, 1912 



VARIOUS GARDENS 

wall (farther left of picture) might have been more 
beautifully laid, but from the photograph one 
catches the precious quality of serenity in a gar- 
den. The use of flowers is apparently somewhat 
restrained. Eremuri, it will be noticed, are used 
at regular intervals, and beside these there are 
in this so-called English border iris, anchusa 
Dropmore, habranthus, Nepeta Mussini, cerastium, 
erigeron (a low, daisylike flower not often seen in 
our own gardens), and dianthus. 

In the illustration showing the old stone seat — 
a vision of beauty and a most lovely example for 
the American gardener — the things which sur- 
round the seat are for the most part plants with 
scented foliage. Campanula Carpatica, however, 
may be noticed here; also irises, hypericum, and 
again erigeron, a variety by the name of Quaker- 
ess. The masses of delicate aspiring flowers back 
of the seat and below the Madonna lilies are, I 
fancy, either anchusas or heucheras in bloom. 
And, may I ask, was ever that flower beloved of 
poets and writers of songs, the water-lily, as 
perfectly set as in this place .^ Notice, too, the 
small ferns so cunningly placed as to overhang 
the pools. In this picture nothing is overdone — 
the walls are not smothered under flowers nor is 

243 



THE \^'ELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

the dark water hidden by mats of uninteresting 
Uly-pads, as is too often the case when one has a 
fancy for aquatics. 

Taking now our gardens in non-geographical 
order, but in their general groups as Eastern, 
Western, and Middle Western, we will look first 
at the two in the Middle West. This, happily, we 
may do through the medium of the pens of the 
gardens' owners. The first description is of an 
Ohio garden at Gates Mills, not far from Cleve- 
land; the second a lawj^er's garden in the lively 
and agreeable city of Grand Rapids, Michigan. 
The descriptions follow as given me, even to the 
humorous thrust in the line which concludes the 
second. 

"My garden is Hke my house; perhaps that is 
what all gardens should be. But it has pleased 
me to play that the old lady, with New England 
traditions, who built the httle cottage seventy 
years ago, made a garden to go with it, which has 
gone on seeding itseK and tanghng all sorts of 
things up together. 

"There is an uneven stone walk leading from 
the gate to the front door, and before the deed 
of the place was in my possession I had planted 
on either side of it a border which blooms from 

244 




TERRACE PLANTING, GARDEN ON NANTUCKET 




PHLOX TIME, GARDEN AT GATES MILLS, OHIO 



VARIOUS GARDENS 

February, when the snowdrops appear, until De- 
cember, when the snow covers the chrysanthe- 
mums still gayly flowering. 

"Old-fashioned flowers have always had the 
preference, though I have had to slip in the 
lovely blue salvia, Japanese anemone, summer 
hyacinths, and others which, alas, the first owner 
of my bit of ground never knew. There must be 
the historic * fifty-seven varieties' in these borders, 
which are my chief est joy. Next is the bed 
around the sun-dial with its foundation of an old 
millstone — for this is a Gates Mills garden. Here 
only things with spiky leaves are allowed to grow. 
The crocus begins the season; daffodils, scillas, all 
sorts of iris, yellow lilies, yuccas, gladioli, mont- 
bretias follow in procession until summer hya- 
cinths and red-hot poker end the summer in a 
charming combination, and not one of them but 
has the long, slender leaves. My latest joy is 
my white border connecting two sets of beds where 
many old and some new fashioned flowers are 
massed according to a plan which does change 
somewhat every year, as my visions of color com- 
binations vary. What a lot of white flowers one 
can find to crowd in front of the background of 
tall white phlox! For close planting carries out 

245 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

my pretending that it is really Mrs. Gates's old 
garden instead of an imitation of a dozen years* 
growth. 

"Here are all the white-flowering bulbs, and 
rock-cress, sweet-william, columbine, lilies, peo- 
nies, Japanese anemones, achilleas, the lovely 
Campanula pyramidalis, summer hyacinths, fever- 
fews; and after the bulbs have faded away every 
spot is filled with white annuals. 

"This border has just had its first birthday, but 
in my imagination — that first necessity of a 
garden — a charming and still more charming 
future stretches out before this band of lovely 
whiteness. 

"These and the long arbor with its flowering 
vines are the parts of my garden nearest my 
heart, the rest is just garden." 

The description of the Grand Rapids garden 
is next in order. 

"The conditions to which my flower garden is 
subject have made it what it is. These condi- 
tions are: 

"1. It is close to my house and not so large 
but that every part of it is always in full view 
therefrom. 

"2. I restrict myself to a garden which I can 

246 



VARIOUS GARDENS 

care for without a regular gardener and with only 
occasional hired help. 

"Because of the first of these conditions, the 
garden is always on parade. It must, therefore, 
be always sightly throughout its entire extent. 
So it must be treated as a whole; for pleasing 
beds, or groups of flowers, without regard to the 
condition at all times of the rest of the garden, 
will not produce a result always beautiful in its 
entirety. That effect will be the result not of the 
flowers alone, but of flowers, plants, and foliage, 
so massed and grouped as always, throughout the 
season's changes, to convey to the eye a pleasing 
impression of the garden as a whole. This involves 
consideration of the flowers, foliage, and habit of 
growth of each of the plants used, and of the 
time of its growth, its bloom, its decline and 
decay. It requires the proper grouping of all 
that the garden contains, so as to cover the 
ground, to hide unsightly plants in their decline, 
to present always a pleasing sky-line, and to se- 
cure harmony of color in foliage as well as in 
flowers. This is to treat the garden as a picture; 
and these things are the main factors in its com- 
position. To make the picture effective in its 
place there must be a relatively large quantity of 

247 



THE WKLL-OOXSIDEKED GAKDEN 

tlowors. the high Hghts of tho pictuiv, and also an 
unbroken succession of bloom. The tlowers chosen 
for this purpose should be reliable and prolific 
bloomers, and I think that only such kinds should 
be used as yield the most beautiful and etiVctive 
tloNvers that can be had at the particular blooming 
season of each. AVhy seek to get results by using 
flo\vers insigniticant in themselves ^Yhen these re- 
sults may be got with tlowers that are more 
beautiful as single specimens? 

**To obtain my unbroken succession of bloom 
and the other results T have outlined, I have used 
the following: crocuses, datfodils. Darwin tulips. 
German irises and pink Oriental poppies, peonies, 
Thunberg's lilies, larkspurs and Madonna lilies, 
Japanese irises, pink annual poppies, phloxes, 
late aconites, and Japanese anemones. These may 
be called my main-line forces, although nothing in 
the garden is planted in rows or in lines or accord- 
ing to any set tigure or design. ^lay-tlowering 
scillas, heucheras. Rocky Blount ain columbines, 
bleeding-hearts, brodiivas, ixias, lupines, gladioli. 
etc., come in as aids or reinforcements to add to 
the beauty and gay etfect. Peonies and late aco- 
nites, on account of their lasting foliage, are used 
not only for tlieir tlowers but with reference to 

it4S 



VARIOUS GARDENS 

the sky-line and to desired sereen effeets. In this 
I am greatly aided also by the thalietrums and 
native ferns. Out of beds of the last-named come 
up many daffodils, tulips, and hlies. The peonies 
allow the larkspurs as well as the Dutch bulbs to 
retire and hide their unsightliness after they have 
bloomed. By the aid of the lasting foliage and 
difference in height of these plants, I am able 
also to obtain a varied and pleasing sky-line and 
to keep the ground from showing bare or unsightly 
spots. I have had more difficulty in treating the 
garden picture as regards these things than in 
matters relating to flowers and color in the 
garden. 

"My way of treating the garden for succes- 
sional bloom and for continuous sightliness in- 
volves planting many crops in the same space. 
No plant has any exclusive preserve in my gar- 
den. All are set in irregular groups or drifts, one 
kind crowded on top of another. In the same 
space the various kinds come up, put forth leaves 
and branches, bloom, and die down, or serve as 
ground screen — all in their allotted times, and 
according to their respective habits. This pro- 
miscuous commingling and crowding of races in- 
volves a * struggle for existence'; but since things 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

follow in succession it is chiefly a question of suf- 
ficient fertilizing, rather than of room or of light 
and air, so far as the flowers and garden plants 
are concerned. It is the weeds that this struggle 
bears most heavily upon; for such thick and con- 
stant cover as results from my scheme of planting 
holds them down. It also holds moisture and 
minimizes the necessity of cultivation, and thereby 
I satisfy the second of the conditions which I 
stated at the beginning. 

"A little thought will show that a garden main- 
tained on the plan outlined is no place for an- 
nuals or for most of the biennials. It is too 
crowded for their development, and, moreover, 
too much labor is involved in raising and renew- 
ing them. For the same reasons perennials that 
are difficult, or that run out in a year or two, are 
excluded, although I am still over-indulgent to 
the peach-leaved campanulas, the late-flowering 
aconites (chiefly on account of their height and 
the lateness and excellence of their foliage), and 
to the capricious Rocky Mountain columbine. 

"It is obvious, too, that color and color schemes 
are not the first thought, or the last word, in my 
garden. Flowers are not invited to grow there 
because they are pink or blue or mauve or this or 

250 



VARIOUS GARDENS 

that art shade. Color is not the test determin- 
ing whether a given species or variety can come 
in, but, so far as it is a test at all, whether it 
must stay out. Even if the color be satisfactory 
and harmonious, yet if the plant is bad in its 
habits, if it sprawls and is unsightly, if it is hog- 
gish and overruns its neighbors, it cannot get in. 
Color in this garden is a material factor in making 
the picture, only in the same way as beauty of 
foliage or of sky-line. Its importance may be 
greater, but that is a matter of degree only. 
Beauty of color and color harmony are essential, 
because if the colors are bad, or if they jar, the 
effect of the picture will be spoiled. Color com- 
binations and color schemes have no other recog- 
nition, however. 

"'If this be treason, make the most of it.'" 

Now come four Eastern gardens. Two are upon 
the Atlantic coast, one in the hills of Berkshire, 
and the third in a suburb of the most finished of 
all American suburbs, those of Philadelphia. 

On Nantucket Island has been created a garden 
spot which, from its very pictures, so dehghts me 
that to sometime see it, its lights and shadows, 
its lovely watery distances, is a thing to expect 

251 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

with special pleasure. This garden is the more 
successful when one hears that its space is re- 
stricted, that its proportions are perhaps one 
hundred and fifty feet deep by fifty wide, and that 
the ground was originally the site of an ancient 
dwelling. The old levels of cellar and main floor 
were scrupulously and closely retained giving the 
necessary drop for two short flights of low steps. 
Along the street line there is a fence. Stepping- 
stones go through the entire garden, which over- 
looks at the opposite end the harbor of Nantucket. 
As foreground for this lovely picture of water, 
tree and flower have been used with a most ex- 
cellent eye for effect. The house is connected 
with the garden by a terrace of brick and against 
the wall of this terrace is a fine border of annual 
flowers. The first or lower garden, next the 
house, is oblong; the second square; the third 
informal in treatment, with the sea-lavender lead- 
ing up to a charming little pool with goldfish 
— papyrus growing there. 

In the cut, page 244, showing a part of the ter- 
race wall, one notices the old-time, fan-shaped 
supports for roses always a feature of the early 
New England garden. Here are seen tall fox- 
gloves rising from groups of the wonderful Iris 

252 



VARIOUS GARDENS 

Kaempferi, the little pointed box-tree at the left 
a good foil for the gay colors of the flowers. 
Everywhere balance, symmetry — that regularity 
which is perhaps more precious for the small 
piece of ground than for the large, since it pro- 
duces, in little, effects both agreeable and fin- 
ished. In the foreground of the highest garden 
shown in the illustration a perfect use is made of 
Statice latifolia, or, appropriately, sea-lavender. 
Below these plants, the beauty of whose purple 
bloom against the distant blues can be but faintly 
imagined, one may notice little gleams of sweet 
alyssum and, looking straight toward the sea, 
their flowers shining against the green of the next 
lower level, one sees delphiniums most happily in- 
troduced into the picture. Flowers found in this 
garden are, among others, Shasta daisies and many 
purple and yellow Japanese irises; hedges and 
box-trees everywhere to form enclosures, to af- 
ford backgrounds, to give that richness of dark 
green always peculiarly effective near the sea. 
The photograph of this garden with its sight of 
ocean is one of the loveliest gardening composi- 
tions ever falling beneath my eye; I am delighted 
that it may grace these pages (frontispiece) . 

At Swampscott, Mass., set upon a great ram- 

253 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

part of rock overhanging the Atlantic, is a series 
of small gardens on a property of three acres. The 
forms and flowers of these gardens send one's 
thoughts swiftly to divers beautiful parts of the 
earth. The house in this case has a site of great 
pictures queness. It is also true that good minds 
as well as good gardeners have been at work here. 
Ingenious, indeed brilliant, use has been made of 
boldly varying levels, of the suddenly changing out- 
lines of the property as a whole, of the glorious 
outlook upon the sea. 

Entrance to the house from the highroad is 
obtained through a bit of wooded land, passing 
on the left the first of a group of gardens on lower 
and yet lower levels. This is the sunken garden 
of one hundred by fifty feet. Surrounded by a 
broad grass walk, bordered on one side by an 
arrangement for two periods of bloom of dahlias 
and hollyhocks, this is an English garden of per- 
ennials. The design shows four balanced beds, 
with central features in the form of three circular 
ones. Of these the middle is kept in turf, the 
endmost circles delightfully planted as color-har- 
monizing foci for their gay surroundings, in hues 
of lavender and white. One of these circles is 
filled with white geranium bordered by lavender- 

254 




AT SWAMPSCOTT, MASSACHUSETTS 




FEBNBROOK, LENOX, MASSACHUSETTS 



VyMMOlIS (;AIM)KNS 

l)luc M^(M'iilmn, iJic oIIkm- luts for <)('ciii)arils liclio- 
Lropos eiK'irclcKl by ;i, h.-iiid of sweet ulyssiim. 

Terraces are \icvc vvilli (iii<^ relaininjjj walls, well- 
planted terraces; eiirviiijL; slone steps and walks 
also eiii-viii^- follow llie line of tli<' pr(M;ipitoiis 
rock wliicli divides IIk^ wild from tlic cultivated 
part of lliis place; a (;luinnirig fan-sliaped rose- 
garden o(;(uii)ies a secluded s[)ot hut witli its own 
view of tli<5 ocean. A little i)la,lforin of grcxm- 
Hward enclosed by a square-clipped lied<^(^ of privet 
forms a base for the fine Italian wc^ll-liead with 
its "overthrow" of restrained design shown in IIk^ 
illustration. All this cK^ar green and dazzling a,r- 
chiteetura,! whit(5n(^ss shlru^s against thx; bhic^ ex- 
panse of sea and sky. And in another i)orlion of 
the place such blooming of Iris Kacmpfcri takes 
place as is seldom seen away from the Flowery 
Kingdom. (By the by, why docs not some one 
have the scuisc; arid grace to call his or her garden 
by this ever-charming title?) 

It is with the mind's eye only that I have scxm 
this garden. May it be my happy lot to walk in 
it at no distant tinier While the work it requires 
is done, its mistress assures me, ordy by herself and 
her Italian gardener, tlie harvest of flowers here 
above the "unharvested sea" is truly remarkable. 

255 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

There is at Lenox, in the Berkshire Hills, a place 
with the musical name of Fernbrook Farm. It 
is high on one of the glorious hillsides between 
Pittsfield and Lenox and reached by a romantic 
drive through pretty by-roads. The house itself 
is of white stucco and dark wood and here the 
eye catches first of all, perhaps, the decorative use 
of fruit, especially of rich black grapes, as the 
vines are caught upward above windows of the sec- 
ond story. The clusters hang clear and beauti- 
ful from the stem all the way up; few leaves are 
allowed to remain. Japanese plums and crab- 
apples grow in flat espaliers, and the effect of this 
bold decoration of fruit and leaf against the white 
stucco gives an Italian touch, a lovely reminis- 
cence of that land of sun and shadow. 

At the back of this house, looking into the 
mountainside, there is first a grass terrace in a 
court made by the projection of two wings of the 
house upon it; a few steps down a second and 
much larger terrace. Here is a fine sun-dial, a 
bronze cupid astride a globe — "Love Ruling the 
World," modelled by the artist-owner of Fern- 
brook. Flowers are so disposed about the ped- 
estal as to beautifully adorn it. At the farther 
side of this main terrace, through a small per- 

256 



VARIOUS GARDENS 

gola covered with berried matrimony- vine occurs 
a descent of a few steps into a long pleached walk 
of apple-trees running through the kitchen garden. 
In places the steep balustrades leading from the 
first to the second terraces are accented by the 
use of dwarf apple-trees in pots. These were in 
fruit when I saw them, and the shining red globes 
in the green leaves against that Italianesque wall 
of white were again good to see. Italian gourds 
hanging through roofs of light pavilions and 
against trellises showed a fine use of what to me 
was a new horticultural subject, physalis, the 
Chinese lantern plant, with its vermilion fruit 
lighting the borders against the house on the up- 
per terrace, and higher up its color was repeated 
by festoons of scarlet peppers and tomatoes hung 
with careless art against the plastered wall. Ac- 
tinidia arguta, the fine creeper from Japan, and 
our native bittersweet were in evidence here, very 
much thinned as to branches but full of fruit. 
The garden proper at Fernbrook Farm has been 
built on a bit of level and projecting ground be- 
fore and to the left of the entrance front of the 
house. This is an oblong hedged garden planted 
gayly in long narrow beds with delphiniums, roses, 
and very fine scabiosas. At the garden's end 

257 



VARIOUS GARDENS 

among the English dukeries — all these enchant- 
ingly enclosed and giving a series of delightful 
surprises; and last, a remarkable pergola at the 
back of all the gardens and bounding their whole 
length. This, very high, was so well proportioned 
that to look either at or through it gave instant 
pleasure. At the moment, too, all of its great 
rose-vines carried but bare stems. In this gar- 
den one had everywhere the sense of proportions 
finely maintained. The use of dwarf fruit-trees 
and of espaliers; of box, of privet, and of poplar 
in hedging; of slight but effective bits of terra 
cotta, marble, and stone now and again in these 
gardens, was exceedingly good. Indeed, a few 
pieces of bright Italian faience made one spot in 
the garden "si gai et si coquette" that the bright- 
ness of summer itself seemed to be caught and 
held there for the further beauty of that autumn 
day. 

Is there not true and tranquil beauty in the 
picture of one of these gardens ? — June, with some 
late foxgloves just overlapping the first delphin- 
iums; and the cleverest introduction of the two 
dogs into the picture, quite unconscious that they 
are the living repetitions of those lions cut in 
stone ! 

259 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

The end of my chapter comes quite naturally 
with those gardens which lie toward the setting 
sun. 

Two gardens near Tacoma fill me with envy 
of that wonderful climate of the Pacific coast. 
Lavender flourishes in Tacoma gardens ; the broom 
is magnificent in May on the prairies which stretch 
from Tacoma toward American Lake some ten or 
twelve miles from the city; and here the heaths 
are at home as well, both Scotch and Mediter- 
ranean. The winter is mild, with much rain; the 
summer cool but rainless, therefore constant water- 
ing of lawns and flowers in the latter season is 
the practice. A glorious picture of natural plant- 
ing presents itself upon these prairies where superb 
spruce-trees are so cunningly grouped in colonies 
as to give an appearance of the utmost achieve- 
ment in studied art. At the far edge of one of 
these great natural parks we drive through a grove 
of beautiful dark trees and come suddenly upon 
a rustic gateway dripping with pale-pink rambler 
roses. 

We pas-s inside the gate between short bordering 
beds of hybrid perpetual roses, turn sharply to 
the right, and behold one of the most lovely flow- 
ering vistas it has ever been my good luck to see 

260 



VARIOUS GARDENS 

real and living. It seems painted; it is too good 
to be true, this artist's arrangement of colors 
within a long pergola built of saplings with the bark 
still upon them. *'I made it all myself," delight- 
edly exclaims our hostess as our unconcealed sur- 
prise and pleasure in this lovely garden pour forth 
in excited talk. On the right, entering the per- 
gola — a pergola with a raison d'etre, for it con- 
ducts from gate to house — are gray foliage of pinks, 
Canterbury bells back of those; farther down, 
masses of Shasta daisies, gigantic here in stature; 
beyond those, clouds of the gray gypsophila; and 
then a delicious mass of color in tones ranging 
from pale lavender to deepest purple, the flowers 
most excellently grouped, an effect of carelessness 
which in an informal border is supremest art; 
among the flowers used, the hyacinth-flowered 
candytuft which Burpee sends out, here appear- 
ing in pinkish mauve, deep purplish pink, and 
white; purple pansies snuggling among these; 
rich purple annual larkspur sending up a few 
spires here and there; and climbing above all a 
lavender and mauve sweet pea, faint notes of the 
color below reflected in the air. 

Pictures are here shown of the rustic tea-house, 
or recessed arbor, at one end of this pergola immedi- 

261 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

ately after its erection (this is now wreathed in 
rambler rose Dorothy Perkins); of the pergola 
itself in its first summer, a tangle of scarlet dah- 
lias; and in the following summer, when annuals 
were the mainstay. During the third summer 
these were the subjects here: decorative dahlia 
Golden West, white dahlias, and a hundred feet 
of Burpee's Superb Spencer sweet peas, some un- 
usual Spencer seedlings among them, especially 
the heliotrope Tennant Spencer. No reds, not a 
red blossom in the pergola ! Outside of it are 
white dahlias and white sweet peas. 

Turning again to the prairie for a mile or so 
farther, our road leads again to the lake. Here 
is a surprise of a totally different character. Ta- 
coma's "year one," as some one has said, is the 
year 1889, yet twenty years later, only twenty 
years later, here stands, surrounded by giant firs, 
between whose columns the blue reaches of the 
lake and the greener blues of distant shores are 
seen, an English house, a dignified and serene 
country house of the earlier Tudor period, with 
walled garden and lily-pool. The latter is set at 
a suitable distance from the house for effect from 
the second-floor windows; and a large cutting- 

262 




RUSTIC ARBOR AND PERGOLA IN TACOMA GARDEN — FIRST YEAR 



VARIOUS GARDENS 

garden, formal in design, lies farther back toward 
the prairie. The wonder of the main garden lies 
in the fact that it has been most skilfully placed 
on an axis with that noblest of American peaks. 
Mount Tacoma. Clouds hid the mountain vision 
on the day of my visit, but what a sensation to 
see Mount Tacoma from one's garden ! 

To come upon this English picture, this delight- 
ful red-brick house, its low outlines possessing much 
of the sweetness of the ancient English manor- 
house, with its gardens masterly in design and 
rich with flowers — to come upon this, in the far- 
thest Northwest, in the new country, is to find 
a thing almost unbelievable. "And I saw in my 
dream" — yet the dream is a reality. One re- 
calls the beautiful house of Kipling's in "They'* 
— it is here in America, in that noble State of 
Washington, near Tacoma. 

For the following description, full of sympathy 
and charm, of the gardens of Glendessary, not far 
from Santa Barbara, I am indebted to the owner 
herself. Parenthetically may it be said here that 
nothing the writer has ever seen in pictures has 
so strengthened her desire to see California as 
have these entrancing vistas full of color and of 

263 



sunliijht. ti\o rosos nud l\\c fountaius, of this 
80 ovidontl^k' ohori^lnxl ii'ardou. 

AYritiui: tirst of tho piv'tmv sliown hore. tho 
j^irvlon's owner Siiys: " This is tnkon from tho 
odi;o of a fountain basin looking toward tho houso. 
Tho titvs arx^ Itahan oypivss, and oaks in tho 
o.xtrx^aio baokgrxHind. 

"Tho hvri^^ bushes in tho foreground are: right* 
the yellow Southern jasn\ine. Fhnya atrw:. tlfttvu 
ftvt high; pale-purple veronieas: the rough stone 
copii\^ laid in sand along the paths art" ooverod 
with /%Vm*n* rt7>< •:>•. Left. Soutlieru jasmine, L<%ur^i 
fiobilL'f^ Stcitifiitonia, and various sniall things. 
This loft bi\i is tilU\i with Cam<'Uia Jaixmica in 
ditTennit tvlors, whieh bloom prv>fusely frv^u Xc>- 
veniber to May and an." too ^vrfcvt for words. 
They :vri" small yet, not morx" than four ftvt high. 
Therv" art" palms alike in eaeh bed. the Cham^n^vf 
cMXv/»^i. whose very delieate faiilike leaves quiver 
with the faintest brtwe. .Vt the seoond steps 
there is a high giwn elip^Kxi hedge whieh eneloses 
and also sei>^vnites the Little liarden frxnn the 
foroix^nrt, in whieh thero art" only the lawn and 
the o.'\ks with a stone nviling. 

"\i was in TiH"*-^ that we began taking the seat- 
ten."d rvx'ks and bowlders out of the small jutw of 

^1^4 




'niOKNKWOOM, AMIOKH.'AN I,AKK, TACOMA 









^ V !i 



OLKNOKHHAHV, HA N'I'A DA K.UA K.A , <.'A M J' OUNI A 



VARIOUS GARDENS 

pasture, through which an old stream-bed still 
could be followed, and built the walls around the 
* Little Garden,' as it is called, to distinguish it 
from the Orchard, the Rock Garden, and the 
Shrubbery, etc. The ideas expressed in this small 
place were harmonious color, fragrance, plants 
mentioned in literature, and water. There were 
several large *Live Oaks,' as the California oak 
is called, in the enclosure, which served as a start- 
ing-point for the walls, the seats, and the general 
shape of the garden. A formal plan of walks and 
beds was decided upon in the first place, varied 
slightly by the position of existing objects in the 
way that a Turkish rug varies from its pattern 
in places. I am told by garden architects that 
it is not exact enough, but I could not bear to lose 
a single old tree; and the mathematical glories 
must suffer a little. 

"A garden seems to me a collection of the flowers 
one loves best or has a very dear association with 
in one's mind from poems or books, and mine began 
with Laurus nohilis and orange-trees, jasmine and 
ivy, and climbing roses on the walls — Madame Al- 
fred Carriere, La Marque, and Olga of Wiirtem- 
berg, Celine Forestier and Beauty of Glazen- 
wood — the white wistaria in the oak-trees in the 

265 



THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 

spring and the Daphne odorata and lemon verbena 
to lean over and breathe in. . . . The pool in the 
centre is full of brilliant lilies, and the lotus-tank 
below is, in summer, a lovely group of perfect 
beauty around which the darting green dragon-flies, 
the humming-birds, and bees are constantly seen. 
The colors are very carefully considered, and the 
flowers are separated by green shrubs and plant- 
ings which break the garden into many nooks and 
corners. 

" Everything will grow in California if the proper 
care is taken, and the succession of flowers is a 
never-ending source of happiness. The earth is 
quite covered, as there are many low-growing 
plants, which serve as a setting for their more 
ambitious sisters; and, since we cannot easily have 
grass, the earth must be covered with tiny plants. 
The use of plants in pots is also very helpful in 
places where one needs a certain form or color; 
and the big, coarse red Mexican jar made in Los 
Angeles is a great boon. We have many plants 
indigenous to California which are most valuable 
to the lover of formal gardening; among them the 
numerous agaves and aloes fill many an impor- 
tant spot." 

It is gardening such as this which gives joy 

266 



VARIOUS GARDENS 

to the discriminating; it is beyond all a question 
of the mind and eye. The nobler the intellect, 
the more poetic the imaginative vision, the hap- 
pier he or she who gardens. And is there any one 
so happy as the fortunate possessor of a bit of 
ground and the wish to give a loveliness higher 
than earth has yet been known to show? He 
who has done this should be a supremely happy 
man, and "to the supremely happy man, all times 
are times of thanksgiving, deep, tranquil, and 
abundant, for the dehght, the majesty, and the 
beauty of the fulness of the rolling world." 



267 



APPENDIX 
NOTE ON GARDEN CLUBS 



APPENDIX 
NOTE ON GARDEN CLUBS 

"Have we progressed in gardening?" asks Doctor Wil- 
helm Miller in "Country Life in America"; and then pro- 
ceeds to show that, while deprecating all boastfulness on 
our part, we have certainly made great strides as to the 
amount and the quality of our horticultural growth in the 
last ten years. Doctor Miller adds columns of interesting 
details to prove his assertion. In a single inconspicuous 
line occur these words: "First women's clubs devoted to 
gardening." InsuflScient emphasis, it seemed and seems to 
me, to lay upon the sight of this organization of garden 
clubs now proceeding with such amazing rapidity. To those 
to whom the art of gardening is dear, to all heart-felt gar- 
deners, a significance of the very highest order attaches it- 
self at once to the spectacle of these clubs rising in every 
direction in our land — a significance which is really a 
prophecy, a promise of beauty. 

If the Garden Club of Philadelphia is, as I believe it to 
be, the first of its kind to come into being in this country, 
then it is one of the greatest horticultural benefactors Amer- 
ica has seen, and in time to come many gardeners will rise 
up and call it blessed. To some people it may seem that the 
art of gardening is too gentle, too delicate, to admit of its 
devotees' submission to rules made by ordered groups; on 
the other hand, it is a complex art; and now so popular a 

271 



APPENDIX 

pursuit that I do not exaggerate when I say that there has 
been a suspicion of midsummer madness in the way in which 
garden clubs have been springing up month by month in 
the years just past. A deep, persistent, and growing inter- 
est in gardening seems to have suddenly crystalUzed in this 
charming and most practical fashion, with the result that 
sixteen or more of these organizations, varying in size and 
form, are now in existence. Offshoots of these clubs seem 
to be multiplying as rapidly as bulblets from a good gladiolus 
in a fair season. 

It is not the fault of the garden clubs that they have a 
distinctly social side. Gardening at its highest can best be 
carried on by men and women of high intelligence, taste, ex- 
perience, and — alas that it must be said ! — the wherewithal. 
With the true gardener this money question, however, is the 
last, least requisite, for who that deeply loves a garden 
does not know that qualities most rare and fine shine out 
oftenest through the flowers of small and simple gardens? 
It is, I have sometimes compassionately thought, more diffi- 
cult for a richer man to achieve his heart's desire in garden- 
ing than for a poorer one. Many are the conventional ob- 
stacles to gardening raised in the path of the owners of great 
gardens. 

The Garden Club of Philadelphia was, I believe, the first 
of its kind in this country. It is now twelve years of age. 
It has, in these twelve years, had no change in the offices 
of president and secretary; and it has been the active agent 
in the organization of many other clubs of a like nature. 
This society has perhaps fifty members. It meets weekly 
from the middle of April to the first of July; twice in Sep- 
tember, and has besides three winter meetings; all "for plea- 
sure and profit." A paper is read at each meeting on a sea- 

272 



APPENDIX 

sonable topic, the club studying, besides, plants, fertilizers, 
insecticides, fungi, birds, bees, and moths, quality of soils, 
climate, and so on, care of house-plants, trees, and shrubs. 
The club has visited the gardens of Mount Vernon, Hampton 
near Baltimore, Princeton, Trenton, and many gardens at 
Bar Harbor. Specialists on horticultural subjects have 
from time to time addressed them. In the club's library are 
more than one hundred papers prepared by members. Their 
activities extend beyond their own limits in several direc- 
tions, notably toward the movement made by the Society 
for the Protection of Native Plants. 

Now, as to the age of the garden clubs other than the 
Philadelphia I am not informed. In the following mention 
of them, therefore, I shall not undertake to give any one 
club precedence, but shall first take up the Garden Club 
of Ann 4.rbor, Michigan, because of its liberal use of the 
letter A ! This club is unique in its ultrademocratic policy. 
Whereas the Garden Club of Cleveland, in two gentle sen- 
tences of its rules and regulations, remarks that "eligibility 
to membership in this club is limited to: A. Those who are 
fortunate possessors of gardens of unusual perfection. B. 
Those who plan and develop personally and enthusiastically 
gardens of their own design" — the Garden Club of Ann 
Arbor declares that only he or she shall enter their ranks 
who is possessed of "an active personal enthusiasm and 
working interest in one's garden," and follows this with the 
rigid exclusion of all others in this explicit language: "Only 
amateurs doing individual practical work in their own gar- 
dens or yards are eligible for active membership in the club." 
An interesting question here presents itself. Were this a 
discursive article, I should be tempted to set forth my rea- 
sons for believing that the Cleveland Club has the best of it ! 

273 



APPENDIX 

The Garden Club of Cleveland, of which mention has just 
now been made, has this fine sentence in its charter: "The 
purpose for which this corporation is formed is to cultivate 
the spirit of gardening in its fullest sense, together with an 
appreciation of civic beauty and betterment in and about 
Cleveland." No mean ambition here; though, as their sec- 
retary says, their aspirations are far more numerous as yet 
than their experiences ! Seventy-seven names are upon the 
roster of this club. The meetings are in summer weekly, in 
winter monthly. Mr. Charles Piatt has spoken at one of 
these on formal gardening, a lecture on peonies has been had, 
and the prizes are already offered for this summer's flowers, 
one for a rose contest. 

New Canaan, Connecticut, has, it would appear, the largest 
membership of the garden clubs. It carries the name of its 
dwelling-place and shows a membership of about two hun- 
dred — • all this within three years of life ! In each of these 
years an exhibition of flowers has been held, with none but 
professionals as judges. This powerful club has helped sev- 
eral other similar societies to come into being, and is a mem- 
ber of the Plant, Fruit, and Flower Guild, assisting that or- 
ganization in its work. 

It may be that the Garden Association of Newport might 
be called the most ambitious of the newly formed gardening 
societies, as may be seen by mentioning in order its objects. 
These are: "First: To increase the knowledge of owners of 
gardens in Newport by means of lectures and practical talks 
in the garden during the summer months by well-known au- 
thorities on trees, lawns, roses, hardy flowers, perennial 
borders, and so on. Second: To provide a corresponding 
secretary who will keep the association in touch with the de- 
velopment of new ideas and improvements in the varieties 

274 



APPENDIX 

of flowers among the seedsmen and gardeners of France, 
Germany, and the East. Third: To estabHsh a bureau 
where the seeds of novelties from abroad can be obtained. 
Fourth: To develop by means of illustrated lectures on the 
gardens of England, Italy, and other countries more art, in- 
dividuality, sentiment, and variety in the planting of flowers, 
shrubs, and so forth. Fifth : To increase the practical knowl- 
edge of the care of trees and plants by demonstrating the 
methods used in Europe in the cultivation of flowers, fruit, 
and vegetables, and in forestry." 

Objects, these, most excellent, and most excellently set 
forth. In my judgment the Newport association is right; 
we still must go abroad to find most of that which is highest 
and best in gardening. This remark may provoke criticism. 
It is still true. The fine gardens, the great arboreta (with 
the exception of our own Arnold Arboretum, whose free 
bulletins no garden club should fail to get and read), the most 
perfect use of trees, shrubs, and flowers, are not yet found 
generally in this country. And the sooner incisive sugges- 
tions, such as these of the Newport association, wake us to a 
sense of what we have not, and where we should go to find 
it, the better for us. On the other hand, the library of the 
Newport society seems wofully behind, in that it has no 
books but English books, and that those, indeed, seem to me 
to be more the suggestions of an English gardener or super- 
intendent than of the fine English amateur. Six books 
wanting from this list, some English and some American, are 
"in my foolish opinion" indispensable to the serious ama- 
teur in this country, the gardener whose one desire is to call 
forth true beauty from the earth. 

The Newport association has had lectures or talks during 
the summer of 1912 on the subjects of soil, the art of 

275 



APPENDIX 

planting, and roses. No object-lesson in the advancement 
of gardening could be more effective than that of the 
decision of these dwellers in Newport — some of them pos- 
sessors of as fine gardens as America has to show — no 
object-lesson could be better than their admission that still 
they need to learn; that their gardens, some of them con- 
sidered practically perfect, still need contributions from the 
charming flowers and plants of that older world beyond 
the Atlantic. 

The Shedowa Garden Club, of Garden City, New York, has 
for president and secretary two whose brains are never idle in 
working for a progressive policy for their club. (Shedowa is 
an Iroquois word meaning Great Plains.) Their fifty-odd 
members meet about every fortnight. They have had sev- 
eral authorities address them during their first year's exist- 
ence, they have already a library of forty volumes, and they 
have taken much interest in improving the flower exhibit 
at the Nassau County Fair. The president of the club is 
now exerting herself to get the various plantsmen and seeds- 
men of the country to adopt the fine color chart of Doctor 
Robert Ridgway, "Color Standards and Color Nomencla- 
ture." 

From an account of this club by its secretary I quote: 
"The management of the Shedowa Club is entirely in the 
hands of the executive committee. The membership is not 
limited; the dues are smaller than those of the average gar- 
den club, and men of the community are admitted as asso- 
ciates (since they cannot attend afternoon meetings) for a 
still smaller fee. The club is an all-the-year-round one, with 
meetings each month, and an occasional extra talk. The 
speakers and their expenses, prizes (except for four cups of- 
fered at each large flower show by members and not per- 

276 



APPENDIX 

mitted to exceed two dollars and fifty cents In price), and, in 
fact, all expenses, are paid from the club treasury. An en- 
trance fee for members, and admission to non-members, are 
charged at the spring and fall shows, and occasionally a 
small admission fee is charged to non-members for some of 
the illustrated lectures; but, as a rule, non-members are in- 
vited as guests; and no admission fee is ever charged to 
members except for the shows. Neither fee nor admission 
is charged for the little shows at meetings. Members are 
never assessed beyond their annual dues." 

At Short Hills, New Jersey, is a small but vigorous garden 
club, with so informal an organization that there is no officer 
but the president. Membership here is limited; but meetings 
are frequent, in summer as frequent as once a week, "thus 
enabling us," to quote a member, "to watch carefully the 
development of color schemes and artistic planting, so en- 
thusiastically started in the previous season; and to note 
the growth of plants tried in our locality for the first time." 
The writer further remarks upon the incentive established by 
the frequency of meetings — and that in time of failure the 
meetings prove a consolation as well. The Short Hills Club 
has also for several years had dahlia shows. In this short 
account the most excellent suggestions are interesting novel- 
ties in plants, a subject which always touches one nearly, 
and an exhibition devoted to a particular flower. 

The Garden Club of Trenton, New Jersey, with a member- 
ship of twenty-four, is limited to twenty-five. (One cannot 
help envying that twenty-fifth member !) It holds its regular 
meetings on the second Monday of each month, with an 
extra meeting sometimes on the fourth Monday. The letter 
of the Trenton club's secretary is so beguiling that I yield 
to the temptation to quote a part of it verbatim — "We 

277 



APPENDIX 

started our club a year ago, and being perfectly overrun 
with clubs and rather tired of them, we have tried to make 
it as unclublike as possible. It has been the greatest suc- 
cess. We have had delightful meetings, with papers and 
talks by our own members. We have had two days in the 
country with the wild flowers, which were intensely enjoyed. 
Those who were able went to a lecture by Hugo de Vries, at 
Princeton; and in the spring some of us visited the garden 
planned by the late Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, doubtless one of 
the most beautiful smaller gardens in this part of the country. 
During the summer a number of meetings were held at the 
seashore, where most of the members had come together and 
studied the flowers of the coast, both wild and cultivated. 
Some of our topics are: 'Flowers in Mythology and History,' 
'The Christmas Tree,' 'Evergreens from Prehistoric Ages to 
our Gardens,' 'Orchids, Wild and Cultivated,' 'English Gar- 
dens,' 'French Gardens,' 'Italian Gardens,' 'Kew and Its 
Research Work,' 'Flowers in Poetry,' 'Insect Pests,' 'The 
Hardy Border,' 'Roses,' 'Bulbs'; and always we have prac- 
tical discussion for the last hour." The range of suggestion 
here set forth is remarkable, and, if I am not mistaken, the 
enthusiasm warming every word of this short letter will 
affect others who may read it here, as it has already af- 
fected me. 

The Garden Club of Lenox, Massachusetts, has the great 
good luck to exist where backgrounds, both near and far, are 
pictures; where planting, however little, cannot fail to be 
telling. Disadvantages may exist. Frost surely arrives too 
soon; soil on those glorious hillsides may be scarce; yet 
where every prospect is one of beauty, the stimulus toward 
the creation of beauty must be unique. Add to this the 
fact that for at least a year a painter and sculptor was their 

278 



APPENDIX 

president, and could the most eager garden club ask for 
more? 

In this club men and women are again associated. The 
membership is limited to one hundred and twenty -five, and 
has, I fancy, barely reached that number. Regular meet- 
ings are held on the first Mondays of July, August, Septem- 
ber, and October. Two novel and highly interesting sections 
occur in the by-laws of the Lenox Garden Club. The first 
is this: "On the third Monday in June, July, August, and 
September there shall be meetings of the officers and council 
for the closer study of gardens and gardening problems and 
the general management of the club. All eligible to the 
council must do manual work in their gardens, and bring to 
the meetings, twice during the season, interesting specimens 
of plants, blights, or insects, giving their personal experience 
with them." 

The second follows and concerns a plant exchange : " Mem- 
bers having plants to exchange or give away may send a 
postal giving names and quality to the recorder. Members 
desiring plants may send in applications in the same man- 
ner. The recorder shall keep a list of both and shall 
bring the same to all meetings, that members may refer 
to it." 

The younger clubs naturally profit by such wise arrange- 
ments and suggestions as these. Thus it is not strange to see 
rules on these general lines in the book of the Garden Club 
of Long Island, whose membership seems to centre about 
Lawrence and which, though in existence only since Septem- 
ber of 1912, has the astonishing membership "already yet 
so soon, " as an old German gardener of my acquaintance was 
wont to say, of ninety-one ! This club meets twice a month 
in summer. Miss Rose Standish Nichols has spoken to them 

279 



APPENDIX 

on "Gardens," Miss Averill on "Japanese Flower Arrange- 
ment," and Miss CoflSn on "Color and Succession in the 
Flower Garden." 

Now for the club in which I am most at home — the 
Garden Club of Michigan. This was patterned mainly upon 
that of Philadelphia, and I here acknowledge with renewed 
gratitude our debt to that organization, which was most gra- 
cious in its assistance; and to the New Canaan Garden 
Club, also a friend in need. Our club, like the Philadelphia, 
has sixty members. We have had, during our first year's 
existence, seventeen meetings, with lectures upon such 
subjects as roses, new flowers, gardens of England, garden 
books, color in the garden, the making of an old-fashioned 
garden, the grouping of shrubs, and the planning and planting 
of home grounds. "We have learned," writes our secretary, 
"much about gardens, gardeners, and gardening; also that 
even garden clubs do not grow of themselves !" 

For our club I have prepared from time to time a list of 
color combinations in flowers, simple ones, easily produced 
— a list of my own preferences in seedsmen and plantsmen, 
including specialists in this country and abroad, drawn from 
dealings of twenty years past. If a seedsman sends me a 
specially good sheet of cultural directions for a given flower, 
I do not hesitate to beg at once for sixty for our next meeting. 
Little piles of these things on the secretary's table do wonders 
in shortening the hard road to good gardening. We have, as 
a club, joined two or three plant societies, and during the 
coming year we hope to help in some public horticultural im- 
provement in Detroit, for in that city lies the balance of our 
membership. The annual dues of our club, which were two 
dollars, have now been raised to five. The dues of the va- 
rious clubs average this sum; though in one club the sub- 

280 



APPENDIX 

scription is fifteen. In all clubs the meetings are held, as a 
rule, in the houses or gardens of members. 

Expeditions are undertaken by some of the clubs — jour- 
neys to fine gardens, public or private. This is as it should 
be. In England it is a common sight, that of horticultural 
societies going about, en masse, forty or fifty strong, inspect- 
ing gardens. Many of these must knock daily at Miss 
Jekyll's "close-paled hand-gate." I would suggest to mem- 
bers on the eastern seaboard that they avail themselves of 
the beauties of the Arnold Arboretum in lilac time, or in 
mid-June — and never without a note-book, for, as at Kew, 
every tree and shrub is labelled to perfection. 

Other clubs there are of which mention should be made, 
as the Garden Club of Warrenton, Virginia, an offshoot of 
the Philadelphia Club; the Garden Club of Princeton, New 
Jersey; "The Weeders," of Haverford, Pennsylvania; the 
club at NewRochelle, New York; one forming at San Antonio, 
Texas; indeed, at the time of writing, the whole number of 
clubs known to me in this country is forty-nine ! Twenty-six 
of these have combined to form the Garden Club of America 
(founded by the Garden Club of Philadelphia), whose hon- 
orary president is Mrs. C. Stuart Patterson, and president 
Mrs. J. Willis Martin. The stated objects of this society are : 
"To stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening among 
amateurs, to share the advantages of association through 
conference and correspondence in this country and abroad, 
to aid in the protection of native plants and birds, and to 
encourage civic planting." In "American Homes and Gar- 
dens," August, 1914, appears an article on the association, by 
Mrs. Arthur H. Scribner, written with sympathy and charm. 

The best garden club is doubtless yet to be formed; it 
can now be a composite. It will adopt the more important 

281 



APPENDIX 

and practical plans of those already in existence; it may start 
with the benefit of their experience. Existing clubs are al- 
ready recognized, reference to our gardening journals shows, 
as powerful factors for the right development of horticulture 
in America. May their tribe increase ! 



282 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Achillea Ptarmica, 23, 32, 34; 

pearl, 50; white, 246 
Acidanthera bicolor, 177 
Aconites, late, 248, 250 
Actinidia arguta, 257 
Ageratum, blue, 70, 71, 73, 255; 

Stella Gurney, 148, 152, 156, 175 
Alpine Flowers and Gardens of Japan, 

Flemwell, 235 
Altheas, 95 
Alyssum, 30, 84; saxatile, 104; sul- 

phureum, 132; hardy, 136; sweet, 

253, 255. 
American Gardens, Lowell, 136 
Anchusa Italica, 47; Dropmore, 69, 

112, 141, 168, 243 
Anemones, Japanese, 151, 198, 245, 

246, 248 
Antirrhinum, Purple King, 177 
Apple-trees, dwarf, 257 
Aquilegia chrysantha, see columbine 
Arabis, 10, 30, 31, 49, 50, 228 
Arbor, 246 
Arnott, S., 99 
Art and Craft of Garden-making, 

Mawson, 236 
Aster, hardy, 36, 37, 43, 44, 74; 

Ostrich Plume, 146; James Ganly, 

148, 177 
Aubrieta, 10, 92, 124; with tulips, 

140, 228 

Baby's Breath, see gypsophila 
Bailey's Encyclopcedia, 221, 222 
Balsams, salmon-pink, 110, 151 
Basket, Vickery Garden, 181, 184; 

Munstead, 185; sweet-pea, 186; 

bucket-shaped, 187 



Begonia, 10 

Bittersweet, 257 

Blanket flower, see gaillardia 

Bleeding-heart (dicentra), 18, 248 

Bloodroot, 16, 50 

Border, double, 131, 202, 244; 

white, 246, 247; of annuals, 252 
Bowles, E. A., 96, 99, 185; books by, 

237 
Box-tree, 253 
Boyle, The Honorable Mrs., books 

by, 234 
Brodiaeas, 248 
Buddleia, 176 
Bulb Planter, Cross-roads, 187 

Calendulas, Orange King, Sul- 
phur Queen, 42 

Camellia Japonica, 264 

Campanula, hardy, 32; Die Fee, 45 
pyramidalis, 45, 48, 110, 246 
persicifolia, 159; carpatica, 243 
peach-leaved, 250 

Candytuft, hardy, 11; hyacinth- 
flowered, 261 

Canterbury bells, 31, 32, 46, 48-50, 
109, 111, 161 

Century Magazine, The, 67 

Cerastium, 243 

Chamomile, 35 

Chrysanthemum, Garza, 153 ; French, 
172, 245 

Chrysanthemum Society of France, 
7, 15, 226 

Cinerarias, 10 

Clarkia elegans, 36; Salmon Queen, 
186 

Clematis, purple, 13; recta, 61 



285 



INDEX 



Color chart, 15, 226, 227 

Color effects, Ruskin quoted, 1, 2; 
use of trial garden for, 53 

Color in the Flower Garden, Jekyll, 
13; quoted, 14, 15, 222-224 

Color Standards and Color Nomen- 
clature, Ridgway, 227 

Columbine, early, see Aquilegia 
ehrysantha, 27, 32; yellow, 45; 
white, hybrid, 108; with iris, 141; 
Rocky Mountain, 248, 250 

Cosmos, 48; early-flowering, 178 

Crambe cordifolia, 11, 54; orientalis, 
33 

Crocus, purpureus, 17, 79-81 ; Maxi- 
millian, 78, 95; Reine Blanche, 79, 
82, 94, 95; collecting, 88; Mont 
Blanc, 93, 95; Mme. Mina, 95, 96; 
Susianus, 97; Sieberi, 97; Korol- 
kowi, 98; "Scotch," 98; Tom- 
masinianus, 98; May and Doro- 
thy, 98; Kathleen Parlow, 99 

Daffodil, double 16; cream- white, 
43; Jacobs's list, 58, 60, 88; 
trumpets, yellow, white, and 
bicolor, 58; yellow perianths, 
pheasant eyes, doubles, and 
bunch-flowered, 59; Eyebright, 
Firefly, and Elvira, 59, 60; with 
peonies, 87, 88; true place for, 139; 
books on, 229, 230, 245, 248 

Daffodils, Jacobs, 229, 230 

Dahlia, 6, 145; in border, 254; 
scarlet, white, and Golden West, 
262 

Daisies, common, 32, 159; Shasta, 
33, 202, 253 

Daphne odorata, 266 

Delphiniums, blue, 10, 11, 13; pale- 
blue, 32; Belladonna, 33; Cantab, 
33, 160, 232; chinensis, 34, 46, 72; 
dark-blue, 159; La France, 159, 
160, Mme. Violet Geslin, 160; 
Kelway's Lonely, 160; Persim- 
mon, 160; Statuaire Rude, 161; 



Make, 161, 253; Moerheimi, 162; 

early, 259 
Deutzia Lemoineii, 107 
Dianthus, 36; hardy. Her Majesty, 

43 
Divers, W. H., 228 
Dogtooth violet, 77 
Dragonhead, 47 
Dutch Bulbs and Gardens, Nixon, 

Silberrad, and Lyall, 235 

Egan, W. C, 9; use of Bordeaux 

mixture, 188 

Elder, common, 21 

English Flower Garden, The, Robin- 
son, 236 

Eremuri, 243; Erigeron, 243 

Eryngium, 163 

Fare, Bertrand H., his list of 
Oriental poppies, 167 

Ferns, 243, 249 

Feverfews, 246 

Flower Fields of Alpine Svntzerland, 
Flemwell, 235 

Flowers and Gardens of Japan, Du 
Cane, 235 

Flowers of the Alpine Valleys, Flem- 
well, 77 

Forbes, 54 

Forget-me-not, see Myosotis 

Formal Garden in England, The, 
Blomfield, 236 

Foxgloves, 32; perennial, 159, 252, 
259 

Fruit-tree, dwarf, 72 

Funkias, 11 

Gaillahdia, 21, 22 

Galtonias, 145 

Garden, formal, 11; experiments 
with, 65; clipped trees in a, 68, 
195; trial, 53-57; of phloxes, 55; 
"wild," 67; Mrs. Tyson's, at 
Berwick, Me., 67; Miss Will- 
mott's, Warley, Eng., 72; Mr. 



INDEX 



Chas. A. Piatt's, Saginaw, Mich., 
73; repetition in, 74; flower cut- 
ting in, 194-196; sunken, 242, 254; 
at Gates Mills, O., 244, 245; at 
Grand Rapids, Mich., 246-251; 
on Nantucket Island, 251-253; at 
Swampscott, Mass., 253-255; ter- 
raced, 255; Fernbrook Farm, at 
Lenox, Mass., 256-258; Fancy 
Field, at Chestnut Hill, near 
Philadelphia, 258, 259; near Ta- 
coma, 260-262; walled, 262; for- 
mal garden near Mount Tacoma, 
262, 263; lily-pool in, 263; of 
Glendessary, 263-266 
Garden, The, Rev. Joseph Jacob, 

quoted, 58 
Garden Color, Waterfield, 227, 228 
Garden Design, Agar, 236 
Garden Magazine, The,Miller, quoted, 

33, 182, 203 
Garden Monih by Month, The, 

Sedgwick, 15, 225 
Garden of Ignorance, The, Cran, 238 
Garden of Pleasure, A, Boyle, 234 
Gardener, the, attitude toward, 208- 
211; classification of, 212; salary 
of, 214-218; training of, 214 
Gardeners' Chronicle, 134 
Gardener's Year, A, Haggard, 230, 

231 
Gardening Don'ts, Chappell, 238 
Geranium, 23; Beaute Parfaite, 151; 
pink, 199, 200; Vincent list, 200; 
Regal pelargonium, 201; cactus- 
flowering, 201 ; Berthe de Presilly, 
201; Alpha, Baron Grubbisch, 
Rosalda, 201; white, 254 
Gladiolus, Baron Hulot, 7, 28, 153, 
172; purple, 13, 28, 48, 69; 
William Falconer, 37, 69, 155; 
Niagara and Panama, 145, 147, 
148; Badenia, 146, 174; Amer- 
ica, 147, 155, 172; Peace, Dawn, 
and Afterglow, 149-151; Taconia, 
Philadelphia, and Evolution, 151; 



Rosella, 153; Senator Volland, 

153; Buchanan, Snowbird, La 

Luna, California, and Princess 

Altiere, 154; Sulphur King, 155; 

Kunderd's Glory, 155; Mrs. Frank 

Pendleton, Jr., 155, 171; primu- 

linus hybrids, 165, 170; Display, 

166, 170 

Gladiolus Grower, The Modem, 146 

Gladiolus Society, American, 7, 146 

Guild of the Garden Lovers, The. 

O'Brien, 238 
Gypsophila, 11; annual, 32; pani- 
culata, 32, 33, 50, 164, 169; 
elegans, 73; in bud, 110; in mass, 
162; double, 165; gray, 261 

Habranthus, 243 

Bappy England, Allingham, 77 

Hedges, privet ibota, 35, 253; box, 

privet and poplar, 259; enclosing, 

264 
Helianthus orgyalis, 177 
Heliotrope, 7; deep purple, 34, 65, 

70; dark, 156, 198, 255; Tennant 

Spencer, 262 
Hepatica, 77, 79 
Heuchera, 11; sanguinea, 34, 55-57, 

127, 243, 248 
Hollyhocks, 10, 11, lemon and white, 

35, 50, 66, 72; rose-pink, 163; 

border of, 254 
Honeysuckles, bush, 107, 111 
Houses and Gardens, Baillie-Scott, 

235 
Hyacinth, Wood, 3, 8; Holbein, 20, 

83; Heavenly Blue grape, 28, 43, 

78, 92, 93; Lord Derby, 80, 81, 83; 

summer, 245 
Hydrangea, white, 11, 126, 164 
Hypericum, 243 

Iberis Gibraltarica, 30, 50 

Iris, 5; German, English, Siberian, 

and Dutch, 5; reticulata, 14, 79; 

dwarf, 18; Germanica, 19, 48, 66, 



287 



INDEX 



135, 141; pallida,110, 127, 132, 136; 

English, 111; Kaempferi, 132, 133, 

253, 255; Mauve Queen, 132, 133; 

Japanese, 5, 133, 253; Crusader, 

139, 243, 245, 248 
Italian cypress, 264 
Ixias, 248 

Jacob, Reverend Joseph, quoted, 91, 

92, 229 
Japanese quince, 80, 83 
Jar, Mexican, 266 
Jasmine, yellow Southern, 264 
Jekyll, Miss, quoted, 13-15; on use 

of sea-holly, 22, 57, 86, 184, 199; 

books by, 224, 228, 235 
Jonquils, Campernelle, 30 

Labels, 62, 185 

Lamium maculatum, 85 

Larkspur, annual, 12, 32, 261; 
Salvia patens, 46 

Laurel nobilis, 264 

Lemon verbena, 266 

Lilacs, 18, 85; with tulips, 140 

Lilies, white, 10; orange, 10; Lilium 
elegans, 21; longiflorum, 33; can- 
didum, 35, 48, 50, 66; plantain, 
73; orange, superbum, 170; Ma- 
donna, 243, 248; water-lily, 243; 
yellow, 245 

Live Oaks, 165 

Loniceras, 108 

Lotus-tank, 266 

Love-in-the-mist, 36 

Lupines, 127, 248 

Lyme grass, blue, 37, 69; with 
gladioli, 149 

Mahonia, 16, 83 

Mallow, 14 

Mertensia Virginica, 125 

Michaelmas Daisy, see Aster 

Montbretias, 245 

Mullein, 72 

Muscari, see Hyacmth 



My Garden, Philpotts, 231, 232 
My Garden in Autumn, Bowles, 237 
My Garden in Spring, Bowles, 237 
My Garden in Summer, Bowles, 237 
Myosotis, 19, 29; early, 28; dis- 
sitiflora, 43; Sutton's Perfection 
and Sutton's Royal Blue, 43, 124; 
hardy, 84, 93, 132-135, 138 

Narcissus, Orange Phoenix, 16; 
poeticus, gardenia, 16, 226; Em- 
peror, Cynosure, 41; listed, 58 

Nemesia, blue, 13 

Palms, Chamerops excelsa, 264 

Pansy, 4; purple, 261 

Peacock' sPleasaunce, The, Boyle, 234 

Peas, purple, sweet, 13; Countess 
Spencer, 27; everlasting, 47; 
Sterling Stent, 165; lavender, 261, 
262; white, 262 

Pentstemon, 163, 202 

Peonies, 31, 32, 49, 50, 57, 88; 
Mme. Emile Galle, 132, 159. 160; 
white, 246, 248 

Pergola, 259; sapling, 261 

Petunia, 7; single, 13; velvet- 
purple, 146 

Phloxes, perennial, 3, 4, 61; annual, 
11; purple, 13; Pantheon, 22, 36, 
61, 163, 175; Eugene Danzanvil- 
liers, 4, 23, 34, 61, 148; Drum- 
mond. Chamois Rose, 31, 34, 37, 
69; Antonin Mercie, 4, 6, 61, 163, 
176, 177; Lord Rayleigh, 4, 6, 32, 
34, 61, 70; Fiancee, 36; pink, 43; 
white, 50; dwarf, 54; garden of, 
55; Aurore Boreale, 23, 36, 68; 
Von Lassberg, 4, 23, 36, 71; 
Jeanne d'Arc, 71, 176; R. P. 
Struthers, 61, 163; Coquelicot, 23, 
36, 62, 163, 175; Fernando Cortez, 
22, 36, 62, 69; Tapis Blanc, 72, 
163; Von Hochberg, 148; su- 
bulata, 83, 84; divaricata, 84, 124; 
decussata, 149; Goliath, 173; 



288 



INDEX 



Rhynstrom, 175; Von Dedem, 175; 
Braga, 175; Widar, 175 

Photography, garden, 188 

Physalis, the Chinese-lantern plant, 
257 

Physostegia (Virginica rosea), 6, 36, 
47; white, 69; rosy, 154 

Pinks, 31; annual and hardy, 32; 
scented, white, 44, 261 

Planting, balanced, 68, 253; alter- 
nate, 202; planting-cards, 203; 
successive, 249 

Platycodons, 48; grandiflorum al- 
bum, 166; pearly-white, 178 

Poker flower, 73, 245 

Poppy, 34; White Swan, 42; Ice- 
land, 42; Oriental, 44, 127, 128, 
166, 248; double, pink, 112, 165; 
Princess Victoria Luise, 167; com- 
binations of, 168, 169; see Farr 
list, 167; Shirley, 167; Mahony 
and Rose Queen, 168 

Present Day Gardening, Jacobs, 229 

Primrose, 4; Munstead, 30, 49, 84; 
pale-yellow, 124, 228 

Puschkinia, 81, 82, 107 

Pyrethrum, rose, 31; single, 159 

Pyrus Japonica, 82 

Raffia tape, 183, 194 

Repertoire de Couleurs, 7, 15, 226 

Rhododendron, 3 

Ribbon grass, 124 

Rodgersia, 33 

Roses, 3; Frau Karl Druschki, 27; 
cUmbing, 34, 265; yellow, 44; 
ramblers, crimson, 3, 10; baby, 34, 
49, 62; pink, 260; yellow, 44; Lady 
Gay, 34, 62; Excelsa, 62; Rosa 
Nitida, 110; Wichuraiana, 20; 
spinosissima, 141; with gladioli, 
149; Annchen Mueller, 160; Con- 
rad F. Mayer, 163; Mme. Alfred 
Carriere, La Marque, Olga of 
Wiirtemberg, Celine Forestier, and 
Beauty of Glazenwood, 265 



Ruskin, quoted, 3, 80 
Rustic tea-house, 261 

Salpiglossis, 11, 13; Faust, 148 
Salvia, blue, 13; patens, 36, 37; 

farinacea, 37; azurea, 146, 153, 

245 
Scabiosa Japonica, 34 
Scilla Sibirica, blue, 16, 17, 79, 94; 

campanulata, 28, 104, 108, 109; 

Excelsior, 141; 245, May-flower- 
ing, 248 
Scottish Gardens, Maxwell, 235 
Scribners Magazine, "The Point of 

View," quoted on geraniums, 199 
Sea-holly, 22, 36, 62, 162, 163, 164 
Sea-lavender, see Statice 
Seasons in a Floioer Garden, The, 

Shelton, 15, 225 
Seven Gardens and a Palace, Boyle, 

234 
Shasta daisies. 23, 33, 261 
Shelton, Louise, 225 
Snapdragon, 35, 146 
Snowball, Japan, 73 
Snowdrop, 50, 245 
Some English Gardens, Elgood and 

Jekyll, 235 
Spireas, 33; Spiraea Thunbergii, 84; 

Astilbe Arendsii, Die Walkiire, 

132, 136; Van Houteii, 137 
Sprays, Bordeaux mixture and 

X. W., 188 
Spring beauties, 77 
Spring Gardening at Belvoir Castle, 

228 
Stachys lanata, 110 
Statice, 11, 27, 34; incana, 110, 164; 

bonduelli, 163, 164, 169, 177; 

latifolia, 164, 253; sinuata, mauve, 

169, 252 
Stocks, 13; white and purple, 34, 36; 

pink, 37; Sutton's Perfection, 45 
Stokesia cyanea, 34, 46 
Studies in Gardening, quoted, 208, 

236 



289 



INDEX 



Success in Gardening, Frothingham, 

225 
Summer Garden of Pleasure, The, 

Batson, 237 
Sun-dial, 245, 256 
Sunflower, Dwarf Primrose, 177 
Swainsonia, 264 
Sweetbrier, 31 
Sweet-william, 31; dark red, 46; 

Sutton's Pink Beauty, 56; white, 

246 
Sylvana's Letters to an Unknown 

Friend, Boyle, 234 
Syringas, 31 

Thalictrums, 249 

Thermopsis Caroliniana, 28, 32, 68 

Thrift, 10 

Tools, 184 

Tritoma, 73 

Trowel, 181 

Tulips, 8, 19; Kaufmanniana, 16, 17, 
82, 94, 99; double, 20; retroflexa, 
28, 30, 43, 93, 138, 142; Keizer- 
kroon, 8, 233; Vermilion Bril- 
liant, 41, 83, 124; Flora Wilson, 
30; Yellow Rose, 44, 132, 134; 
Cottage Maid, 49; Gesneriana, 49; 
Vitellina, 82, 104 ; La Merveille, 83; 
Couleur Cardinal, 20, 30, 83, 124, 
138; Darwin, Clara Butt, 19; 
Ewbank, 19, 122; Rembrandt, 85, 
140; La Tulipe Noir, 85; Krelage 
list, 86; Vitellina, 82; La Merveille, 
84; Fanny, Count of Leicester, 
Wouverman, Carl Becker, Giant, 
and Konigin Emma, 85; Bouton 
d'Or, 125; Darwin: Fawn, 105. 



and Faust, 106; grouping of, 104; 
varieties of, 106; Breeder, 106; 
Flava, 117, 141; Nauticas, 118; 
Mauve Clair, 119; Zomerschoon, 
119, 123; Moonlight and Spren- 
geri, 120; Francis Darwin and 
Edmee, 12L; Le R^ve, 125, 137; 
border suggested, 125, 127; Ag- 
neta, 132, 134; Gudin, 134; Wil- 
liam Copeland, 134; La Fiancee, 
137; Heloise, 138; Hohenberg, 138; 
May-flowering, 123; combination 
with other plants, 124; Picotee, 
124; Jubilee, 137; Avis Kennicott, 
137; among evergreens, 138; 
Bougainville Duran, 140; with 
lilacs, 140; Ewbank, Bleu Celeste, 
Morales, Innocence, and La Can- 
deur, 141; "lily-flowered," 141 
Tulips, Jacob, 126 

Verbena, 7, 11; Beauty of Oxford, 
23, 35, 49; Dolores, 149, 174, 177 

Veronica, pale-purple, 264 

Vines, Vitis Thunbergii, Californica, 
aconitifolia, megaphylla, 231 

Violas, 13, 30; white, 50, 228 

Violet, wild, 4; sweet, white, 50; 
dogtooth, 77 

Waterfield, 235 

Wistaria, white, 265 

Wood and Garden, Jekyll, quoted, 14 

Yuccas, 245 

Zinnia, 36; "Flesh-color," 42. 70, 
136; cream-white, 164, 202 



290 



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